Nicol's New Fate
by darkling59
Summary: The Blitz has been destroyed and Nicol's coordinator reflexes are all that saved him. Unfortunately, his crew thinks he's dead and he has been found by the enemy. He's a prisoner, and only a single young 'natural' soldier seems to care, but why?
1. Preview

Disclaimer: I do not, in any way, own Gundam Seed or any of the characters, settings, etc. There we go.

Well, this is a segment from a larger chapter.

This is an alternate of what happens after the Blitz is destroyed; the difference is that Nicol ejected before he got killed and was only injured. He was picked up by Kira at the end of the battle and taken as a prisoner on the Archangel. At this point, Nicol just escaped custody and is listening to a conversation between Flay and Miriallia, oh and Flay's not hiding her feelings.

At the moment, I don't have much intention of finishing this or telling the full story of what happened. If you'd like me to finish it, review!

FIVE reviews and I'll continue.

REVIEW!

* * *

Nicol's eyes widened at the conversation. _What the hell! A coordinator! Here!_

"He's one of them! A monster! How can you defend him?" The red haired girl was still ranting.

"The better question is, how can you condemn him? He saved your life!" the other girl was glaring heatedly at the first.

"It doesn't matter! He's a coordinator!" Sudden, sharp footsteps ran down the corridor. Out of reflex, Nicol pulled further back in to the shadows as a blond haired man ran up to the two girls, breathless.

"You two! On the bridge! The prisoner has escaped!"

"What! That murderous monster!" Nicol growled angrily under his breath. He was beginning to hate her.

"Yes, him." The older man completely disregarded her comments, not embellishing or detracting from them. "We need everyone on the bridge for briefing on how to handle this situation."

_Briefing? Doesn't that come during training? _The situation was making less and less sense to the eavesdropper.

"Yes, sir." As both girls turned to leave, the captain turned away, then stopped and called back. "Have either of you seen the Kid? Ensign Yamato?"

_Ensign Yamato?_ Nicol blinked. _Yamato… that name sounds familiar somehow._

"No sir." The redhead said it with emphasis "He disappeared after the coordinator _scum_ was moved into the cells. Hey," here her eyes sparked disturbingly, "maybe he helped him escape!"

The captain blinked dubiously. "Doubtful. But he will be watched as soon as we find him. As will the rest of the crew." At this, he turned back to his search while the redhead turned back down her own path, with a disturbingly smug look on her face.

Minutes later, an irregular shadow moved down the hallway and out as Nicol left, now with even more questions then answers.

* * *

Kira lay on his back on one of the top catwalks of the storage bay, the area where the Gundam was kept. He couldn't stop thinking about the earlier event with the prisoner, and every time he thought of it he could feel his heart bleeding a little more. He had not cried; no, his tears had been spent a long time ago.

* * *

TBC?

you're choice, I won't finish it if I don't get at least 5 reviews

Thanx


	2. Reviews

Wow, that was quick

I was frankly amazed by the reviews I got for this one.

Guess I gotta finish it now.

I got SEVEN in the first two days! Guess that beats five…

Oh, btw. I don't own Gundam Seed, any of the characters, settings, etc. (did you really think I did?)

So, this is how I'm gonna do it. These are the reviews I got and my responses. Next week or later this week sometime I'll replace this with the first chapter. Consider the other one a preview.

I'm going to start with the end of the battle where the Blitz is destroyed and continue through his capture into his escape and up to the destruction of Orb. (Although there will be several surprises, I think. :) ). I'll end the story around there.

I'm not sure about pairings, but there will definantly NOT be any NicolxFlay. Sorry, but I just don't see that happening.

OH! I got a chapter of a different story up. It's called 'Confined Anomalies' and it's not Gundam Seed, but I still hope you'll read it and review. It's a fantasy AU of a different anime series. I'd appreciate it if you'd give it a chance. The link's in my profile. Thanx!

* * *

Kill for Revenge-

_wow! this is pretty good! aww.. your so cruel.. 5 reviews! (im already psyched up about the next chappie.. but you wont update untill 5 reviews? (.. sniff.. well i hope people will review so that i can read the next chappie already! anyways, please update soon..and i wish that you would get the 5 reviews ASAP! ciao! oh and by the way, is this a nicol x fllay? i hope it is! _

Response:

**Thanx! I'm glad you like it! Sorry, but it's not going to be NicolxFlay. I don't like Flay that much and I don't see it happening. And I guess your wish was answered! I got enough reviews by the second day…**

Blue Mystery-

_I really hope this is a Nicol x Fllay story. I don't know what it is about them, but together I believe they'd make a great pair! Not many people like Nicol x Fllay pairing, for a lot of reason. One, they hate Fllay, two Nicol's not really a major character and finally Nicol and Fllay never meet and their complete opposites. But I love Fllay, and I do mean love. And I adore Nicol so its only natural I'd like the two together. _

_Anyways, let me stop babbling on. I really enjoyed this chapter and really can't wait till the next one. I hate to burst your bubble but its very unlikely to get five reviews. Unless this isn't a Nicol and Fllay fic, cause then you'll get plenty! Hopefully dispite my words and doubts you'll update this wonderful fic. Cya!_

Response:

**Sorry, but it's not gonna be a NicolxFlay story. Also, I think I'm gonna spell Fllay, Flay because that's what my computer works with. And I like Nicol too. He's so cute, and I was so sad when he got killed. Heh, you were wrong about the reviews. I got seven in the first two days, and eight by the third. Although that is more then any of my other stories and they've all been up longer…**

Alikhar-

_Please, finish it. I like the story, and i hope what Frey have an ending very tragic ( i don't like her) But, The meeting between Kira and Nicol must be really dramatic, because both them are friends with Asrum._

Response:

**Looks like I am going to continue; mebbe finish, mebbe not. Depends on the reviews I get over time. I'm glad you like it though, and I don't like Flay either. I don't know what'll happen to her, if anything, but she won't get together with Nicol. Or Kira, or Athrun, because I like them. Heh, hope you like the continuation. Thanx for the review.**

Precognition74-

_hm... i don't quite get what was happening at the beginning of the fic. if you could put in a little bit of the conversation before the first line, it would give us a better insight. this is a good idea though. very very good idea! i'd like to see how this plays out. also, it woule be better if you put in more descriptions. describe the actions more and if possible, decribe the chracters more. i assume your writing 3rd person from Nicol's POV. he doesnt know them, true, but if the characters were described mroe throughly it'll be easier to imagine what they actually look at. look forward to reading the next chapter!_

Response:

**Glad you like it and thanks for your review! And the constructive criticism. This was just a short half page deal I wrote before math class. My next chapter should make this one a bit clearer. Not sure about the POV yet, I often change as I go through. Let's see…. Oh, the descriptions. I might put more in when Nicol sees them for the first time, but I'm not sure. I figure that if people have seen the series, they already know how things look. Don't know yet. Thanks for your review and I hope you like the next chapter.**

Luna-

_Continue._

Response:

**I will. Thanks for your review.**

Darkness-

_I think you have to upgrade. Because it is a great story._

Response:

**Yep! I'll upgrade. Thanks for your review.**

Jiang Mae-

_I like this fic but I kinda got lost. It would be better if you make the chapters a little longer. Otherwise, I like this fic and I will review it and still read it. I'll even put it on my favorites list._

Response:

**Glad you like, and thanks for the constructive criticism. This chapter was just half a page I wrote in five minutes before math class because I was bored. Now that I'm going to go further into it, I should have time to get more detailed and longer. And I'm going to go into the past and continue from the point where the AU starts.**

SpiritsMelding-

_Please continue it! I like it that you brought Nicol back, he deserves to live. -grins- Please update soon._

Response:

**Looks like I will. Thanks for your review.**

* * *

TBC! Remarkably!

Although I could use suggestions….

(hint hint)


	3. Alive

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Seed, the characters, plot, setting, yadda yadda, etc. etc. (I don't even own the manga for crying out loud)

Well, here ya go. You guys wanted me to finish it…

This is what _should_ have happened when the Blitz got shot down, starting with that event. The preview chapter takes place in teh middle of this story.

Hope you like it.

:-)

I currently have ten chapters planned for this story, although it might morph into as many as fourteen depending on how long the other capture scene goes (yes, someone else gets captured, but I won't say who or when) and on if I do an epilogue.

And don't worry if this is confusing at first, it should work itself out later.

Responses for the reviews from the other responses are below.

Thanx for the reviews and I hope I get more!

* * *

"Steady….steady…..we're losing him!" 

"Paddles!"

"Check!"

* * *

_Strike…..standing over an immobile Aegis. Eyes wide. No! Not Athrun. NO, ATHRUN!_

_"Athrun! Hang on, I'm coming!"_

_"Nicol? Nicol!"_

_Running…running… Making the Blitz go full out…had to make it. Can't let them have Athrun!_

_100 feet…90… No! It went closer! Are they having a conversation or something!_

_"Dearka! Yzak! Where are you?"_

_"What's going on?"_

_"Strike…"_

_Both, in sync: "Athrun!" It would have been funny if lives weren't on the line…_

_"ATHRUN!"_

"_NO! NICOL, DON"T…!"_

_Too late. Strike moving, as if in slow motion, swinging the lance to bear on the chest of the Blitz... _

"_No…" voice soft, muscles suddenly lax, but not for long. _

"_ATHRUN!" _

_No! It can't end this way! Sudden strength surging through his body….Strange….a seed seeming to explode in his vision… moving, faster then ever before…clear path… EJECT._

_"NICOL! NO!"_

_Air underneath…then pain, heat…shrapnel cutting him all over….pain in his chest, arms, everywhere._

_There's the Strike…there's the Aegis….there are the Duel and the Buster… all of them watching what's left of the Blitz. Not a single one noticing him falling…falling…falling into blackness…._

_

* * *

_

"Clear!"

!zzzzt!

…_pain_

"Almost got it!"

…_voices?_

"Clear!"

!zzzt!

_pain…again….but not as bad as before…_

"We have a pulse! Thready, so bring me 3 mgs (milligrams) of…"

_voices….fading…what?_

A weak moan emerged from the mouth of a bloody green haired youth as he fell, once again, into a restless dreamscape.

* * *

…_light? Alive? What happened? The Blitz… Athrun!_

…_no. Athrun's fine. There's the Aegis… returning…leaving… Leaving! NO!_

_Trying to shout…'I'm here', 'I'm alive', 'Help' but there is no voice to shout with._

_Pain…all over…Dying? Yes. Nobody to help. At least Athrun made it. Closing eyes…darkness enveloping…wait…light?_

_Another MS? What is…?_

_STRIKE!_

_A giant hand reaching out… pulling back just causes more pain, pain that brings unconsciousness yet again. _

_Feeling…before blackness…warm metal encasing everything… Strike…saving him? Why?_

_Then blackness…_

_

* * *

_

"How's he doing Doctor?"

"Okay, still not awake though."

"Well, he took quite a hit. It's remarkable he's alive."

"He **wouldn't **be alive if Ensign Yamato hadn't picked him up."

"No kiddin'. When will he be awake?"

"Well, if he was a natural, I'd say in about three weeks."

"And since he's a coordinator?"

"Dunno. Somewhere between now and tomorrow."

"So, soon then?"

"Looks like it. He's already recovered consciousness once, but fell back under too quickly to even register where he was."

"I see. Well, alert me when he wakes up and make sure he's restrained."

"Will do, Lt. La Fraga."

Both of them turned to watch the young man on the medical bed writhe and toss with fevered dreams, as they wondered what exactly would happen as soon as he woke up.

* * *

…_pain…again…tired…_

_Home? Athrun? No…Strike…_

_People…too many people…yelling…angry…_

_Docking bay? The Legged Ship! _

_Prisoner…._

_Blitz gone….? He's….dead? No…but his friends think so._

_Athrun…Dearka…Yzak…Commander La Creuset…._

_No help…_

_Can't move…_

_Red…? Blood! Dying? No…not yet._

_A…boy? Being yelled at? Angry...calling him...co...ord...in...Coordinator? Here? No...impossible._

_White…a man in white…medic…needle…yessss..._

_Pricking his arm. Familiar feeling._

_Relief._

_Pain leaving….sinking again….sleep._

_Don't think…don't realize…don't feel…dream._

_Dream of music._

_

* * *

_

Tired ruby eyes cracked open to meet the harsh lighting of the med-bay.

The doctor, a middle aged man in a white lab coat worn over EA fatigues, moved quickly to secure the arms and legs of the boy to the bed he was on. It was utterly remarkable how quickly the young soldier had recovered. Granted, he was still pretty banged up and would need to be kept in the med-bay for a while, but awakening was the first step.

Remembering his promise to Lieutenant La Fraga from a few hours before, he quickly walked into the next room.

"Lt. La Fraga….Lt. La Fraga… Would Lieutenant La Fraga please report to the med bay? The prisoner has awakened. Repeat, the prisoner has awakened."

Tired eyes snapped wide, losing their lethargy…_prisoner_? Suddenly swift, he scanned the room. Unfamiliar beds, room size and shape, computer style, and medications in much larger quantities then were ever needed on coordinator ships. That wasn't the worst part, though. The uniforms were the worst part. They were the uniforms of the Earthen Alliance.

He had been captured by the enemy. And that wasn't the worst of it. Judging from his dreams, he had been saved by the Strike. Not to mention the fact that his friends and comrades had no idea he was even alive, let alone captured.

Panic flitted into his gaze as he looked towards the Doctor.

"Where….what happened to me?"

Not surprisingly, he was ignored and left in restraints on the uncomfortable hospital bed to wait for 'Lt. La Fraga' to respond to the summons.

His pulse quickened in fear as a tap of footsteps announced the arrival of another person.

_I…I've been…captured… What now?_

_

* * *

_

TBC.

REVIEW!

* * *

mg- milligram 

Lt- I'm not sure of his rank, but this sounds about right. He's just a step or few below captain

MS- mobile suit

* * *

If I get anything wrong about the series or characters, don't hesitate to tell me. I've only seen the series once and haven't read the manga. 

Sorry this is so short, but this is all I had planned for the content of this chapter.

In case it was confusing, the parts in italics were Nicol's dreams of the battle and his capture.

The other parts were what was happening around him while he was unconscious.

And the dreams were supposed to be choppy. It's a stream of consciousness thing: a kid who's in lots of pain and confusion is not about to think in complete sentences.

Anyways, I hope I got the point across and I hope you liked the chapter.

Don't worry; the next one shouldn't be as confusing.

* * *

Responses to the reviews that were in return for the other responses ( O.o) : 

Jiang Mae- _Glad you like it so much. :) Just out of curiosity, how many times DID you review under different names? Oh, and I like Kira too. This story should be good to him, mostly. Remember what I said above about someone else getting captured? Hehehheheh…that's all I'll say. Thanx for the review. (PS. Please only hit the review button once, I got two of the same review last time. Thanx)_

_

* * *

_


	4. Current Situation

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Seed, the characters, plot, setting, yadda yadda, etc. etc. (I don't even own the manga for crying out loud)

Hmmm…

Not much to say that I didn't say last time.

Thanx for the reviews and I hope you like this chapter.

Unfortunately, I've had problems in my creativity/ motivation department so this part isn't very good. I might redo it later. :-)

Also, I wasn't in a very good mood when I started it so….yeah. That'll explain the first part.

Oh, and there will be some rough language in this part. Just…ya know, the actions of Naturals that hate coordinators towards Nicol.

Ummmm…. Yeah. Thanx for the reviews! Tell me what you think!

Oh, and I changed Fraga to Flaga by popular demand cuz, apparently, that's his real name.

And I upped the rating to 'Teen' becasue of a few swear words.

* * *

_Italics_ means thoughts. 

**Bold** means dream sequence

* * *

**Last time:**

His pulse quickened in fear as a tap of footsteps announced the arrival of another person.

_I…I've been…captured… What now?_

_

* * *

_

Nicol's New Fate

Chapter 2: Current Situation

-----------------------

"Move it, Coordinator!"

Nicol barely managed to bite back a grunt of pain as the butt of a gun was jammed into his back. Five minutes ago, a very large, very rough, guard had shown up to take him to see this Lt. La Flaga person.

"Dammit, scum! Hurry up!"

"Yilp!"

This time Nicol was unable to restrain the strangled yelp as the guard kicked him, hard, on his injured leg. He fell, gasping in pain and unable to stand because of the restraints binding his arms behind his back.

"Awww….wassamatter?" the guard leaned over him, leering, "Did the big bad coordinator get hurt? But, hey, what's a few broken bones and internal bleeding to one of YOU freaks?"

Glaring, Nicol tried to bring himself back up…only to be pushed down again. He froze at the sight of a knife in the hand of the Earthen soldier.

"It's because of Zaft that my crewmates died." The malice expressed through that one statement made Nicol shrink against the wall in fear "and I'm sure that the Lieutenant won't notice a few more broken bones…"

Ruby eyes got impossibly wider as the older soldier leaned down, reaching out with the knife…

* * *

Kira strode down one of the many hallways of the Archangel, immersed in thought. He had been wandering aimlessly ever since Ensign (1) Badgerule had yelled at him for saving the pilot of the Blitz. 

_But… what was I supposed to do? Leave him to die? I couldn't do that! And it's not like he's a threat right now, anyways. And that's my fault. I hurt him. I didn't mean to but I did destroy the Blitz. It's a miracle he managed to eject like that; my lance must've missed him by mere inches! But because of that, all of his comrades most likely think he's dead. Including Athrun. And now, Athrun hates me._

"Why?" he murmured, pulling himself back to reality. "Why did things happen this way? I don't want to fight, and I REALLY don't want to kill. Especially not Ath-."

"Dammit, scum! Hurry up!"

_Huh?_

"Yilp!"

_What was that? It sounded like someone in pain. But nobody on the Archangel is wounded. Unless…shit …_

Kira knew from personal experience just how most of the crew felt about coordinators, let alone Zaft. If one of the more violent ones got a hold of the prisoner, it was doubtful the boy would survive.

Picking up speed, the young soldier took off towards the adjoining corridor, hoping the lack of sound was a good sign but knowing it probably wasn't.

* * *

Nicol crouched against the wall, hunched over in pain as the Natural solder zeroed in on him again. There were already two shallow cuts on his right arm in tribute to the man's knife and Nicol had little doubt that more would join them soon. He squeezed his eyes shut as the knife started down again… 

"PRIVATE! WHAT are you DOING?" (2)

"Ah! Ensign Yamato!"

_Huh? What's…?_ Nicol slowly opened his eyes, scared at what he might find, only to come face to face with a very …different… situation.

The burly guard was standing several feet away at attention and saluting to a young man who had just arrived. Obviously nervous, but still angry, the older one dropped his salute and moved determinedly back towards Nicol. After all, the Earthen Coordinator was supposed to be a pushover, right?

"I asked you a question, Private." Lavender eyes narrowed as Kira once again moved in front of the low ranking soldier.

Apparently not quite the pushover everyone thought.

"I…ah…ummm…"

Stuttering, the older man backed up and Nicol uncurled, propping himself against the wall (he was still favoring his twice injured leg). He couldn't quite suppress a vengeful smile at the plight of his rough captor. The man obviously knew he could get in a lot of trouble for mishandling a prisoner. Maybe he'd be treated better now?

"Well?" his gaze snapped to his savior and back to the…'conversation' going on as the boy spoke again.

"I was just taking the prisoner to Lt. La Flaga for interrogation."

"Oh really? With a knife?"

"He's a coordinat-!" he froze, eyes widening slightly as he remembered just who he was talking to. "I mean…uh…"

"Private, I understand you lost your entire former crew to Zaft and I know that your brother was one of them. I'm sorry for your loss and I know what it feels like to loose everything you care about."

Nicol blinked at the boy. _Lose everything you care about? He's talking like someone from Julius 7! Or…maybe…shit. Heliopolis. _Nicol's misgivings returned tenfold. This new solder had a much bigger grudge then the first.

"I'll take charge of the prisoner now."

_Huh? Uh-oh…_

"Ensign, are you sure?"

"Yes. However…could you please go on ahead and notify the captain?"

"Alright. Ah...w-will... I..?" he glanced pointedly at Nicol's arm. Kira rolled his eyes.

"No, I won't press charges. Just don't do it again."

"Thank you."

The young prisoner watched the man leave with trepidation. Once again he was alone with an earthen officer and if his hunch was correct, this one had a much bigger bone to pick with him then the other one. Suddenly, a hand descended on his shoulder. Trembling, he slowly looked up into the eyes of his newest jailer.

* * *

Kira observed the green-haired boy as he watched the Private walk away. Private Andrews wasn't truly a bad person, but he had been one of the few survivors of the original Archangel crew and had lost almost everything to Zaft. Such people often held on to thoughts of hate and revenge. Prv. Andrews was no exception. 

_Which brings me back to the prisoner. _Reluctantly, Kira brought himself out of his musings to watch the boy warily. He really hadn't thought this over much. What if he really did try to escape? Even injured, he was most likely much stronger, right? What if he had some trick up his sleeve?

Moving closer, Kira got a better look and felt a pang of sympathy. The boy was terrified. He still had his gaze fixed on the Private and was trembling sporadically. Not to mention he was hunched in a ball against the wall; but that might've just been from his wounds.

_Not that I can blame him. He just got attacked by an Earthen soldier. He probably thinks I'm even worse considering what I said about losing everything to Zaft._

_Well, might as well get this over with. I did say I'd take him to be interrogated. At least Lt. La Flaga and Captain Ramius won't hurt him._

Moving closer to the distracted prisoner, Kira took his arm gently and waited for a reaction.

Unsurprisingly, the boy jumped nervously and his trembling doubled as his eyes came up to meet Kira's.

* * *

Nicol strained slightly at his restraints and tried unsuccessfully to quell his shivering. He knew none of the others would have; Yzak would have been growling and threatening, Dearka would have been mocking and insulting, and Athrun would have been stoically silent. 

_But no, it was me that got caught. The only one that can break under interrogation._

"Hey."

"Uh-!" Nicol snapped his head up, startled to find the young soldier still standing with his hand on his shoulder, looking into the prisoner's eyes.

"I have to take you to my superior officers now. Let's go."

"A-alright."

_Why…is he being nice to me? Maybe I was wrong about Heliopolis. Maybe…_

"We're here."

"What?"

"I said we're here."

They were standing outside one of the many sliding doors that lined the hallway. This one was slightly secluded from the others, but otherwise identical.

As his captor pushed a button on the keypad, making the door open, Nicol swallowed nervously and didn't resist when he was gently pulled inside.

"Thank you Ensign." A young brunette woman, very attractive, stepped forward towards them and gestured towards a chair. "Put him there."

"Yes, Captain."

As he was herded over and tied to the chair, Nicol got a good chance to observe the room they were in. It was fairly small, the size of a sleeper cabin. In fact, that's probably what it was; he realized this when he noticed one of the walls had a bed attached to it. There was little else in the room. A desk pushed off to the side and four chairs. Two of them occupied by a blonde man and a grim looking black haired woman. One of the others was the one he was being tied to and the final appeared to be for… the captain?

Wait, but that meant the other boy wouldn't be there!

_ No! He's the only one that's stood up for me so far!_

"Don't worry."

"Uh?" Once again he found himself peering into calm violet eyes; this time with his arms bound to a chair rather then each other.

"The Captain and Lieutenant are good people. They won't hurt you."

Dismally, Nicol noted that the final resident of the room had been left unmentioned. Oh joy.

"Kid, you can go now."

"Yes, sir."

Nicol watched as the boy fidgeted in front of the door uncertainly.

"Something wrong?" the blonde man really didn't look that threatening. He looked like…a surfer. In a military uniform. The disrespectful thought calmed Nicol down somewhat, dispelling a few of his fears.

"Ummm..." oddly, the other boy looked nervous and not at all military. It was looking more and more like the hunch about Heliopolis was correct. He couldn't help a pang of regret at that; the colony had been a big mistake and he still felt terrible for what he had done.

"Should I…wait outside to take him back to the med-bay when you're done?"

The other officers appeared surprised but after exchanging looks, assented. The boy nodded, relieved, and stepped out the door, closing it on the way.

Leaving Nicol alone.

With three EA officials.

Gulp.

Tied up.

In an interrogation room.

DOUBLE gulp.

His trembling restarted as Nicol turned back from the door to the other three residents. He was ready to face anything they would do to him bravely.

Like Athrun would've.

* * *

Cliffy? 

>

>

>

Nah.

* * *

Several hours and exhausting questions later, Nicol found himself being led back to the infirmary (3) by the same violet-eyed ensign. He had long since stopped trying to make sense of anything that happened or how they treated him. He hadn't been tortured or truly imprisoned and he had been treated for all his injuries. All of which went completely against everything he had ever learned about the EA. 

"This way." Kira quietly reminded the boy where to go. Poor guy was exhausted. He had followed Kira without a word or objection, not even opening his eyes to see what direction they were going.

_And it's my fault. _Kira felt an all too-familiar stab of remorse. _If I hadn't shot down the Blitz, he wouldn't have been inured or captured._

Once they had reached the infirmary, Kira gently untied Nicol, who was practically asleep on his feet, and retied him lightly to the bed. It was probably much too loose, especially for a coordinator, but tying it any tighter would have put the boy through unwanted discomfort.

As it was, Nicol dropped off to sleep instantly and Kira continued on his way, still in the same turmoil he had been in since Heliopolis was destroyed.

_He helped destroy Heliopolis. But…he seems nice! He tried to kill all of us. And yet, he's a friend of Athrun's. Which means he can't be all bad. But Athrun also tried to kill my friends. But… _

_I don't understand anything anymore._

Kira paused for a moment, standing in the doorway, before shaking his head and moving on. Leaving Nicol all alone and barely restrained.

* * *

(Dream Sequence) 

**"I'm sure you've figured out your position by now."**

**"Not really." Nicol fidgeted in his bonds as the blonde man spoke.**

**"You are a prisoner aboard the Archangel, a warship of the Earthen Alliance. Your MS was shot down by the Strike and you were recovered, barely alive, by the pilot of said unit. Now, what is your name?"**

**Nicol blinked dazedly, mouth hanging slack. "Wh- why would the Strike rescue me?"**

**"Don't know or care." The black-haired woman stepped forward. "Who are you?"**

**'Name, rank, and serial number.' The age old saying ran through Nicol's mind. He could state his name and station, but nothing else.**

**"Nicol Amarfi, pilot of the Blitz Gundam MS. Err…former MS."**

**"Good. Who were your commanding officers?"**

**Nicol stayed silent, remembering what the ensign had said about their not hurting him.**

**"I said, who-"**

**"Don't waste your breath Badgerule."**

**"Lieutenant?"**

**"The boy's not talking and it's not like it really matters. They're all gone by now anyways."**

**THAT caught Nicol's attention.**

**"Wh-wha?"**

**"Hm?" the blond man (Lt. La Flaga?) turned back "What?"**

**"What happened to them?"**

**"Doesn't matter. Now let's get back to questioning."**

**The interrogation, which was more like an interview, was living Hell after that. Nicol still didn't know what had happened to the others and it was apparent that nobody was going to tell him. The rest of the time the three officers had asked him various questions that Nicol had refused to answer.**

**When he had ceased being coherent from exhaustion, the Ensign had returned and brought him back to the infirmary.**

(End Dream Sequence)

* * *

Slowly, Nicol opened his eyes. Wondering idly if violet was a normal eye-color for naturals. He moved slightly, uncomfortable on his medical bed, only to have his bindings twist oddly. 

He froze.

They were…loose?

It took him less then a minute to get free and even little time to get out the door. Not once did he stop to consider why he wasn't tied down or who had done it.

Sadly, he was going to regret his lack of foresight in the near future.

* * *

TBC. 

REVIEW!

* * *

Well, definitely not my best work. But geez did this one turn out longer then planned. 

But I figured that since I had it, I should put it up. And it DOES integrate all but one of the events I was trying to put in. Although not quite as much background or as much emotion or character development as I wanted. Sorry if they're OOC, that's why. Not enough character development.

(sigh) hopefully I'll regain my motivation in time to make the next chapter better.

And I seem to have developed a thing for dream sequences and ellipses. Hm.

* * *

(1) I checked and yes, at this time, Natarle Badgerule is indeed an Ensign. Surprised me very much. 

(2) I couldn't find a rank lower then Kira with a short title. They were all 'crew member' or 'petty officer'. I figured Ensign was probably higher then Private but I might be wrong since I don't even know if they have that rank in the GS universe. Also, this character is completely made up.

(3) Infirmary- med-bay. I got tired of writing med-bay and they do mean the same thing so...yeah.

* * *

**crazy4padfoot**- _Probably not any love interest for Nicol, sorry. Unless... meh. I dunno. I like shounen-ai but I've never done a real romance or fluff story before. We'll just have to wait and see, neh?_

**Alikhar**- _Hee, you'll find out who gets captured in several chapters. :-) And why they never get to Joshua. Although that might be in the next chapter…_

**Precognition74**- _Sorry if the meeting wasn't how you would've imagined it. But Nicol still has no idea who Kira actually is so he can't really react. I don't know yet what's gonna happen when he finds out that the young ensign who was so nice to him is the pilot of the Strike._

**SpiritsMelding**- _La Flaga. Yah, so I've been told by lots of people. But I'm glad I was able to fix it. And now I know his real name. 's always good._

**Jiang Mae**- _Heh. Glad you like it. :)_

**anime writters- **_Yeah, I guess the first chapter was sort of vague. Hopefully, this one cleared that up. Last one was disjointed dreams and all but this was supposed to be actual scenes. And I changed Fraga to Flaga in this chapter. Thanks for the input._

**PoisonousAkemi4869- **_Yeah, I think Nicol deserved to live too. He seemed so sweet, although it was strange that he had so few reservations about the war. Guess it's cuz he's from a military family. And, yes, Kira was the one being shouted at. But Nicol doesn't know that._

**karone-sakura- **_Thanx you very much. :-)_

**Yzak Lover Extrodinaire- **_Hm. Not sure if this was a flame or not. Lessee…the review chapter is there cuz I wasn't sure I was gonna finish the story and it's information. I knew Lt. meant lieutenant, and Nicol ejected before the lance hit his cockpit, missing it because he was outside. They would have to bind his legs for the same reason they do it for people in car accidents: so that he doesn't thrash around and become more wounded. It's standard procedure as far as I know. Ummm…hope that answered all your questions. Thanx for the review!_

**Nevermore-Amaya- **_Yeah, Nicol deserved to survive. Unfortunately, now he's on a ship of naturals who don't especially like coordinators. But Kira's nice to him and he is alive so…yeah. Thanks, I hope my portrayal of Nicol remained accurate…I didn't see him that much…And I'm not sure about pairings. MirxTolle, maybe FllayxSai, VERY maybe AthrunxKira, DearkaxYzak, and MwuxMurrue, and I'm considering NicolxCagalli but I really don't know about that one._

**Artgirl150- **_Glad ya like! Thanx for both reviews, was surprised to get the first one. Took me a little while to realize they were for two different chapters. XD Thanx._

**Xiaoj- **_ :) Thanx_

**Rainpure-**_Thank you! You've read more then this one:) That makes me feel all fuzzy…heehee, somebody's gonna get caught later but it's not gonna be Dearka…XD you'll find out who. But this isn't gonna follow the same storyline; they never make it to Alaska, they have to turn around and guess where they go? Heehee. Hope ya liked this chapter._

**Natasha-Li- **_You'll see…XD Glad you like. Sorry this chapter sucked so much, I was very under motivated. And you'll see how Nicol responds when he finds out about who Kira actually is. Heh, hope ya like._


	5. Consequences

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Seed, the characters, plot, setting, yadda yadda, etc. etc. (I don't even own the manga for crying out loud)

Hmmm…

Still having inspiration issues, but this somehow managed to worm its way out of my head. (I'm supposed to be working on my other story)

Sorry this one is so short, it was supposed to be part of the last chapter but I didn't finish it in time and the ending seemed like a good way to end a chapter.

So yeah…

Also, I'm gonna be starting school soon so the chapters might be even farther apart from lack of time. Either that or all the mental stimulation will re inspire me and I'll write more then ever.

Hmmmmmm…

I think that's it.

Thanx to all of you that reviewed:) I appreciate it and have answered you at the bottom.

And those of you that didn't….. Well bleah. But Thanx for reading.

* * *

**_Italics_ **means thoughts 

**Bold **means….other stuff.

* * *

**Last time:**

_Slowly, Nicol opened his eyes, wondering idly if violet was a normal eye-color for naturals. He moved slightly, uncomfortable on his medical bed, only to have his bindings twist oddly._

_He froze._

_They were…loose?_

_It took him less then a minute to get free and even less time to get out the door. Not once did he stop to consider why he wasn't tied down or who had done it._

_Sadly, he was going to regret his lack of foresight in the near future._

_

* * *

_

Nicol's New Fate

Chapter 3: Consequences

-----------------------

Empty…

Empty…

Moving quietly as only a coordinator could, Nicol crept down the right hand corridor outside of the infirmary. A distant, vague portion of his mind was wondering why it had been so easy to get out, but that was pre-empted and ignored by the overwhelming desire to get off the ship. Part of the interrogation had made him uneasy.

---

**They're all gone by now anyways. **

**Wh-what happened to them?**

**Doesn't matter. Now…**

_----_

_Dammit, if they had hurt Athrun or any of the others…_

"HEY YOU!"

He went rigid at the shout.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU"RE DOING!"

_Crap_

Whirling, Nicol jumped forward, expecting on instinct to be carried away by the zero- g (gravity) (1). Unfortunately, he had forgotten that the legged ship was no longer in space. The result was an embarrassingly undignified stumble.

"Oomph!"

"What do we have 'ere?" Strong hands grabbed his shoulders as he felt himself land against a broad chest.

Slowly, the red-eyed boy looked up at his newest captor. A tall man stood there, decked out in a mechanic's uniform. His wavy ebony hair hung lank around broad shoulders and framed a rugged yet somehow friendly face. Or at least it would have been friendly if the man hadn't been glaring at him and frowning. He obviously knew who Nicol was and was not happy that he had somehow managed to escape.

"The prisoner, eh?" The one the Kid brought in."

_Kid? Oh…the boy with the strange eyes. Wait…what? He had…brought in…?_

"How'd you get outta the med-bay?"

"Uh…" The frown deepened at Nicol's lack of response.

"I'd better talk to Lt. La Flaga to get you moved to a more secure location. If you're well enough to escape, you're well enough to survive down in the cells. Not to mention the punishment for whoever left you unrestrained."

_What? NO! It's not his fault! _Nicol hadn't even considered the fact that someone else might be punished if he was caught. Actually, in hindsight, WHEN he was caught. What had inspired him to attempt to run away on a ship in the middle of an ocean? And now his one potential ally was going to suffer because of his stupid mistake!

"Let's go" The older man jerked an unhappy Nicol down the hall, pausing at the infirmary to tie the youth's writs together before taking off down the left corridor, still dragging Nicol along. It wasn't long before the two of them wound up in front of the same door Nicol had seen when he was interrogated. He tensed upon arrival, but did not struggle. What was the point? In his injured state he was even weaker then the weakest natural. (He had found that out on the way up) This time, as the door opened, he managed to restrain his shivering but could not keep himself from gulping nervously as he was shoved through the doorway on legs gone stiff with fear.

* * *

**_Kira Yamato, please report to Lt. La Flaga. Kira Yamato._**

"Whu?" puzzled, the young coordinator glanced up from his computer. After returning the prisoner to the infirmary about a half hour ago, he had holed himself up in his room and was currently trying to loose himself in programming. It was just mindless busywork, but it kept his troubled mind off the deeper issues he had been contemplating earlier. The prisoner was wreaking havoc with his morals system. (Not that it hadn't been in serious trouble already, but HE had been the one to hurt Athrun's friend and as such everything that happened to the boy could be traced back to him and attributed as his fault)

"**_Kira Yamato._**"

Brow furrowed in confusion, (why would the Lieutenant want to see him? And why summon over the intercom rather then in person?) Kira made his way to the designated room. Shaking off a strange, irrational feeling of foreboding, he opened the door and stepped forward, saluting.

Then froze.

Four pairs of eyes were looking at him.

And all save one looked very, VERY angry.

* * *

"Ensign Yamato." Captain Ramius moved forward. "Care to explain why a prisoner left in YOUR care was found outside of the room he was confined to? Unrestrained?" 

"He…what?" Kira's incredulous expression turned to the other boy, who currently had his eyes trained stubbornly on the floor. He was quite obviously trying to avoid Kira's confused gaze. If he hadn't been tied down, he would have been fidgeting.

"Don't act like you don't KNOW!" Kira's head ripped around to Ens. Badgerule. She looked _pissed_. "This COORDINATOR was found wandering the hallways! After YOU left with him! That can **not** be a coincidence!"

"Ensign Badgerule, if you cannot keep a cool head, I will have to ask you to leave." Ramius' clipped expression, so different from her usual warm chatter, made Kira even more nervous then before. Badgerule was always on his case, but the captain too? What had happened? His gaze drifted to the last person in the room. Lt. La Flaga was watching him with a strange mixture of pity and disappointment evident in his expression.

Shamefully, Kira dropped his own gaze to the floor. Like Nicol, he suddenly found it much more interesting. He had no idea what he had done to alienate his superior officers. Badgerule he couldn't really care less about; she had had it in for him since she found out he was a coordinator. But La Flaga and Ramius were people he had grown to respect and he cared about their opinions. What had happened?

_Let's see…_he eyes went distant as he tried to remember his actions with the prisoner. He had been focusing on his emotions…_I took him to the infirmary…he was dead tired…I was thinking about Athrun…I tied him up…tied… _he actually felt the blood drain from his face. His crime had indeed been serious.

_Oh shit._

_

* * *

_

Nicol watched the boy fearfully. How long would it take him to figure out what had happened? Slumping down as far as his bindings would allow, Nicol tried very hard to make himself as invisible as possible. He was certain Ensign Yamato…whatever his first name was… would hate him for this. He didn't want to see hatred in the one person who had shown him kindness; it was a sight the young prisoner didn't think he'd be able to stand.

Despite the situation, he felt a small humorless smile form on his down turned face. _I guess it's true that artists are more sensitive then most people. None of the others would give a damn what the kid thought: they'd take advantage of his kindness and escape. But I'm not like that, I'm too sensitive What I wouldn't give to be home right now acting the part of the sensitive artist rather then the injured POW (2)_

"Ensign Yamato."

Two pairs of distracted eyes, one violet and the other crimson, snapped up.

"You are charged on three counts by this provincial Earthen Alliance Court."

The boy's dry gulp was loud enough to be heard around the room. Guilt pounded in Nicol's chest like a sledgehammer.

"Count one. Aiding a prisoner in attempted escape. Count two. Disobeying the direct, succinct orders of a superior officer. Count three. Jeopardizing the safety of the crew of the vessel Archangel by allowing a known war criminal to wander unsupervised."

Kira's clenched hands were white with the effort he was expending to keep himself from trembling. They complemented his pale face. The only other time he had been in a situation like this was with Lacus' ordeal. And then he had been a civilian and military law could not be applied. This was much different.

"Your punishment is as follows."

This time, Nicol was the one to swallow. He could not believe he had repaid such a kind act by getting the benefactor punished. Even if the person was a natural.

"Solitary confinement in personal quarters upon the will of your superior officers until the Archangel reaches its final destination, at which point you will be subject to court marshal."

Silence reigned as Kira stared at the captain in horror, trembling in disbelief and fear. All of them knew what would happen if the supremely racist officials, most of which were on the payroll of Blue Cosmos, were consigned to his –a coordinator's- case.

Pity flickered through the captain's eyes. "However, good behavior will be rewarded accordingly. And the confinement need only take place within three days of our set docking time at Joshua and/or when I, Lieutenant La Flaga, or Ensign Badgerule commands."

Nicol's eyes were once again glued to the floor. That was it; he was never going to see his savior again.

"Lieutenant, please escort Ensign Yamato to his quarters. He need not stay there yet, but," here she turned back to Kira, "I would suggest you stay out of Ens. Badgerule's way."

The captive did not look up; he could not bear to watch as a numb, shocked Kira quietly followed the older man out the door. The foreboding hiss of the closing door seemed to echo Nicol's trepidation for his future. As well as that of the kind young man suffering the consequences of his own selfless heart and Nicol's thoughtless actions.

* * *

TBC. 

REVIEW!

* * *

Again, not my best work, but I'm not exactly ashamed of it. 

Sorry it's so short; this was the one event that I didn't put in the last chapter. I didn't add it on to the next chapter because (a) I haven't written it yet and (b) it seems to stand pretty well on its own.

Hmmmm….

Oddly, I'm not feeling very talkative today. Maybe next time. Seeya.

Oh, and I'm starting school soon but I think I already covered that.

Oh! And I'm thinking of another GS story. Don't know if I'll actually get around to doing it but the main plot would be that Kira is captured by Athrun after that space station place gets blown up and is taken in to the Vasalius. Com. LaCreuset doesn't know he's a coordinator and believes he's just a natural (doesn't care that he's a civilian) and decides to experiment on him (if he dies, it will just be attributed to Heliopolis) with a drug that combines animal and human DNA. It should make him stronger, faster, but much less smart for a short period of time. However, because he is a coordinator he reacts differently and they all have to live with the results. :) I've been reading neko fics, can ya tell?

That's the gist of it. Kira gets transformed halfway into a chosen animal and they all believe he's lost his mind as well. Athrun has to get used to having Kira as his pet…when all hell breaks loose.

(1) Nicol trained mostly in space; in the series, he spent the majority of the time on the Vasalius (the Zaft spaceship) which had no gravity. They all just sort of floated around. I'm taking creative liberties in guessing that Nicol spent most of his training in zero-g conditions rather then in heavy atmosphere.

(2) Prisoner of War (just like MIA means missing in action, KIA means killed in action, etc. They talk about it a little after Tolle and Kira go missing in the anime)

* * *

**Yipster54**- _Glad you like. :) I try to update but inspiration in a fickle thing…_

**Xiaoj- **_Heh, here's the next installment. Very short, but whatever. That's cuz it was supposed to be part of the last chapter. Hope ya like._

**Animeluver- **_Heheheh. Glad you like it so much. I try to update often, but it doesn't usually work._

**Gs lover**_- :) thanx a lot._

**SpiritsMelding**_- heh, Nicol won't find out who Kira actually is for a little while. Few chapters. Glad you like the story._

**Nevermore-Amaya-**_ 'sank you. :-) And you're probably right. Nicol and Cagalli don't really seem to mesh very well, do they? Problem is, if they're not with each other then they're alone… Hm. Of course, this isn't really much of a romance story. Maybe a little bit later, but Nicol's gonna be focusing on escaping so… maybe I just won't give him a partner. Or I'll have him talk about someone back at the plants._

**Poisonous Akemi4869- **_Glad you like it. And yeah, I like Kira as the nice guy. Unfortunately, it does get him in quite a bit of trouble. And I'm not talking about this chapter either; something else happens later on between him and….XD not telllling…_

**Jiang Mae- **_Heheheh. Glad you like. _

**Easy-Company-506/101- **_wow…. You sound like you were in the navy. I appreciate the support and the detail, but I don't think I'm gonna spend that much thought on their titles and positions. Prv. Andrews probably isn't going to come back and if he does I'll keep it the same (the Archangel crew seems like a motley bunch anyways) because if I change it then I have to go back and re upload the last chapter and do a bunch of stuff. Thanks for the input!_

**Yzak Lover Extrodinaire- **_yeah, that's right. And I don't like her either. She's too much like the people from Blue Cosmos. Glad you like the story._

**Anonymous- **_:) I'm glad you like it. Maybe I'll do a NicolxKira story another time. They do seem compatible… But this one will probably be KiraxAthrun. Thanx for the review!_

**artgirl150-**_ Sorry, poor Kira gets in trouble quite a lot. At least he's often too busy to angst as much as he does in the series. And the couples aren't going to be remarkably defined. If there are any, they will probably be shounen- ai, boyxboy. But it won't be overt.(most likely)_

**Precognition74- **_Heh, they don't come in for a little while. There might be an example of them in the next chapter, but I'm not sure. _

**karone-sakura- **_heh, glad you liked it._


	6. Escape

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Seed, the characters, plot, setting, yadda yadda, etc. etc. (I don't even own the manga for crying out loud)

OH! And possible yaoi warning. Also, implied shounen-ai and yaoi! (Nothing overt, but the innuendos are there and they might progress, depends on my mood)

I have had a slight return of inspiration!

I 'm not really proud of this chapter.

No niceness or fluff. No action. Mrgh.

Well, at least it's a continuation.

Ummmmm…

Can't think of anything else to say.

* * *

**_Italics_ **means thoughts 

**Bold **means….other stuff.

* * *

**Last time:**

_The captive did not look up; he could not bear to watch as a numb, shocked Kira quietly followed the older man out the door. The foreboding hiss of the closing door seemed to echo Nicol's trepidation for his future. As well as that of the kind young man suffering the consequences of his own selfless heart and Nicol's thoughtless actions._

_

* * *

_

Nicol's New Fate

Chapter 4: Escape

--------------------------

"Move it, scum!"

_Now where have I heard that before? _Nicol winced as a hard rifle butt struck the back of his neck. It was odd how similar all the solders were; this one had mirrored the other guard, the one the kid had saved him from. _Best not to think about it. _Stumbling further into the bowels of the ship (he was still restrained and the pre-existing injuries had not been treated since the attempted escape). Nicol managed to detach himself from the painful experience by reviewing his overall situation. Which was even more agonizing.

After the boy, Nicol refused to call him Kira, had been led out, the female commanding officer turned on him. After listening to a list of his injuries (fractured ribs, a punctured lung, bruised cartilage all over, super-extended leg muscles (1), and a badly twisted ankle) the captain had deemed the prisoner healthy enough to undergo relocation to the cell block. She had called in two gun-toting goons, each one at least double their prisoner's body weight, to get him there. And so, here he was, walking through the entire ship with two idiots who had no idea where the cell block was.

_Dammit, _the normally polite ZAFT soldier was becoming irritated. _I wish they'd just hurry up and get me there. I'm injured for crying out loud! Of course, they might just be doing this because they want to see me suffer. Maybe I hurt them as well, somehow..._

"Faster, Prisoner!"

Nicol stumbled painfully before managing to speed up, but he barely noticed.

_Like that kid, Kira. No, I can't call him that. He's a natural, an enemy. Not to mention he probably hates me now. After what I did and the effects, I really can't blame him._

Ruby eyes clenched shut in shame. _I can't believe I did that! I mean, there was no real chance of escape. No matter what, I would have found myself wandering without a plan. That was really the only course of action that could have followed leaving the infirmary, yet I still did it. Damn! What kind of soldier am I? A good soldier always reviews possible outcomes before acting and never alienates possible allies or easily manipulated captors. God, this is-_

"Finally!"

His head snapped up. IN all truth, he hadn't even seen where they had been taking him through the inner turmoil.

"No kidding, man. At least the brat was good. Is it possible to fall into a coma while walking?"

Nicol mentally rolled his eyes. Wonderful, he'd been upgraded from loathsome monster to comatose brat.

"Hahah! No, I don't think so. Besides, he's watching us."

"Really? Damn," A rough hand grabbed the boy's chin, jerking him to his toes and roughly moving the slight face from side to side. He barely bit back a whisper of pain from still-tender injuries "look at those funny eyes."

"Hmm?"

"They're RED."

"Coordinators are all freaks. Put the little monster down and help me with this door."

"Yeah, yeah."

Nicol stood absolutely still when released, outwardly calm and pliant but inwardly seething. Both men stood at the door, plugging in security codes. The stupid one that had grabbed the boy's chin had apparently forgotten he password. It wasn't long before they started talking again. Unsurprisingly, it was bout their charge.

"Does he really have red eyes?"

"Yeah! Creepy, isn't it? And green hair, too."

"…you sound like a demented Christmas commercial."

"Christmas? Hah! Guess so, he does seem to be holiday themed."

This time, the coordinator audibly ground his teeth, but neither of the men noticed.

"Yeah! Maybe they programmed him to be a Christmas-style coordinator!"

"Heh, I bet. Parents probably asked for the looks as a joke. It would be terrible for a natural childe, but for one of those engineered brats…"

_Engineered? THEMED! Do they even know what a coordinator is? They talk as if I'm some kind of advanced robot or trained animal! THIS is why so few coordinators like naturals! If I was free… Wait a minute._

All signs of hostility died as Nicol stopped listening to the immensely degrading conversation and focused on himself. The men had left him alone. All alone, with his hands bound. Full use of feet and empty hallways all around. But considering last time…

_No. That was different. If I go through those doors they're trying to open, I WILL NOT be able to escape. Those cells were built to hold much stronger men then me. But I need a plan. This can't end up like last time. Ummm…Well, sneak away first, then get these restraints off in any way possible. Find a terminal with a map of the ship, and then some kind of vehicle to escape in. Yeah, that'll work._

Inch by inch, the coordinator backed away, watching the guards until his careful steps passed a hallway to duck into.

Several minutes later, with the door finally open, the two men turned to retrieve their prisoner only to find an empty hallway.

* * *

Kira lay on his back on the now-familiar military bed, squeezing shut his eyes and trying not to cry. 

_Why? Why did this have to happen? Any of it? I never wanted to fight or hurt anyone and when I try to help those that do get hurt, I become even more miserable. I don't blame that Zaft soldier; no, he didn't leave the ties loose and it was only natural he'd be trying to escape. I guess he just didn't look like a prisoner of war to me. Unfortunately, by treating him like a normal injured boy, I put the entire crew in danger._

_And now I'm going to be court marshaled. Last time, with Lacus, I was told it would have been a capital punishment were I actually a soldier._

_Now I am a soldier…and this crime is just as bad as the last._

Small tears escaped the corners of the clenched eyes, growing in intensity until Kira was sobbing quietly.

_Why? I hate all of this, so why do I keep being put through such pain? I wish Athrun was here. Of course, if he was he'd be trying to kill me. Athrun…_

A fresh wave of tears cascaded onto the sheets as Kira remembered his childhood friend, the only person in his entire life to truly understand and appreciate him.

"Athrun…" A pained whisper was all the Earthen coordinator managed before once again dissolving into sobs.

_Why, dammit, why does all this keep happening? First I lost Athrun, then my family, my friends have started treating me differently, I betrayed my entire race, and now I've alienated the commander and captain because of a prisoner I took! But I couldn't just kill him! _

Sobs died into breathy gasps as the young man slowly cried away his sorrows. Exhausted from all the emotions and trying to escape the grim reality of the situation, Kira slipped off into a dreamless slumber.

* * *

Three…hours… 

That was how long Nicol had been wandering around this stupid giant ship. The thing was built like a friggin' gopher burrow! The restraints had come off within the first 15 minutes, but so far the escapee had not seen a single person, which was good, OR a single terminal, which was bad.

"Damn." He swore lightly, resting to ease the strain on his injured limbs. What would one of the other have done in my shoes? Feh, stupid question. None of THEM would have gotten caught."

Grumbling and grousing, he almost missed the small screen set in the opposite wall next to a keyboard. As it was, he had to do a double take.

"Wires, paneling, screen, keys…YES! (2)" Good spirits were back full force! He had found a terminal!

_Good! Now I can find out what happened to the others and how to get out of here. A Natural computer shouldn't be that hard to hack._

Fingers flew over the keyboard, tapping letters and numbers in a seemingly random but perfectly controlled order.

He was in.

"Files, files…here we go!" somehow, talking didn't seem like a very good idea, but his optimistic nature didn't seem to want to stay dormant. "Battle with Zaft about a week ago…" He scanned the screen rigidly, then sagged with relief. "Thank God. They were just psyching me out. The others might have broken off and headed back to the Plants for a break, but none of them were taken down." There was no time to rest his wounds, not now; not with the goal so close. "Well, let's look up Strike. There should be a route to the docking bay or hangar somewhere nearby. Huh, what's this?" An empty screen came up, only to flash a 'restricted' sign at the hacker.

"Hmph, we'll see about that."

Five minutes later, he was still working and beginning to sweat. Even coordinator systems would usually have fallen by now; there was something very wrong. Naturals did not have this tight of security. They didn't know how to program or handle it. Maybe… all these strange comments about a coordinator around **were** true.

-BEEP-

_Huh?_

-ACCESS GRANTED-

A gentle smile split his face for the first time since the fight. This could work. This could really work!

First thing he did was call up a map, taking all of thirty seconds to commit it to memory. He should have logged out there and then, but a little extra information never hurt anybody…

A minute later, he was furious; fists clenched tight enough to shut off circulation. How DARE they!

_We'd always guess and assumed, but still…_

The Bulletin read:

As a result of damages inflicted on the way to Joshua,Alaska base,  
the Archangel and its crew have been forced back. The  
only country willing and supplied enough to harbor and repair such a  
ship is the neutral nation of Orb.  
As per positive negotiations between the vessel and the  
Princess of the neutral nation, Cagalli Yula Attha (3), the craft will be  
Berthed secretly in a repeat performance of the previous similar act of  
good will. Keeping Zaft unaware of Earthen Alliance plans is essential  
to the longevity of both Orb and the Archangel.  
Information classified by Earthen Alliance government  
representative.

There was a semi-intelligible signature at the bottom of the statement.

"Dammit!" A fist rammed the keyboard, only to quickly jerk back with a little mewl of pain and another curse.

_How could they? Anger was dulling to resentment. I mean, we never did anything to them. Ok, maybe we blew up Heliopolis and almost killed their princess, but that was their fault! _Sulkily, Nicol looked up from nursing his hand and froze.

All thoughts of back-stabbing neutral nations flew out the window and his mouth gaped open.

Apparently, he had hit a key when his fist stuck the board.

On the screen was a profile.

A very FAMILIAR profile.

Short brown hair framed a delicate featured, nervous face. Peering out shyly from behind shaggy dark bangs were bright amethyst eyes.

"The boy..." Uncertainly, Nicol pressed the 'scroll' key.

"Kira Yamato. Ensign. Wow, high rank. What's a natural teen d-"

-BEEP-

_What? Why was the rest of the information classified? _

A sense of dread grew in the young coordinator's chest as he cracked the code. The reason for the security became clear instantly.

-Kira Yamato, Ensign. Coordinator. Not technically a member of the Earthen Alliance fleet, this first generation coordinator was brought on board at the neutral colony of Heliopolis and persuaded to pilot the MS Strike. Supreme care and caution should be taken around Ensign Yamato. As a coordinator, the Ensign is very high strung and volatile.-

_Coordinator. That's why…everything fits. Why he was so nice, why the Strike was so strong, why I felt a connection to him. But why would a coordinator work for naturals?_

-tak….tak….tak…-

Reflexively, Nicol dropped back into the shadows of the hallway, avoiding the footsteps.

_The legged ship is returning to Orb… and the Kid…he's a coordinator. Like me._

_

* * *

_

"Atchoo!" Kira awoke with a sneeze to find himself curled up on top of the bed sheets. It was just barely 5 am. What had…?

"Oh, right."

Depressed again, he stood slowly, regarding the four walls, bare of anything save one little picture. He picked it up.

"Athrun…" infinite sadness well in amethyst eyes as a ginger stroked the 2-d image almost lovingly.

"Birdie!"

"Tori?"

The small mechanical bird landed on Kira's shoulder, nudging his neck urgently a few times before taking off again.

"Yeah, you're right Tori. Staying in here will just make me more miserable. I have the run of the ship until we reach Joshua, might as well make the most of it."

Resolutely jamming the picture into a hip pocket, the emotional young man set off for the hangar, his most prized possession and symbolic friend flapping along behind, like a small guardian angel.

* * *

TBC. 

REVIEW!

* * *

Sorry about spelling errors, I haven't edited anything on ffnet, and that sometimes screws things up. And I know the end is tacky. I'm tired so screw it. 

Not to mention I don't have a beta reader and my story line is getting a bit fuzzed.

Errr….oh. The next chapter will be VERY different. XD You won't see Nicol or Kira for a little while.

Thanx to all of you that reviewed, responses are at the bottom!

* * *

Oh, good lord it took forever to type this stupid chapter. 

I'm rapidly growing to hate it.

Sorry it sucked so badly, I honestly don't know why, it just DOES. Not because of the quality or anything, just the structure and weirdness.

Mrgh.

Two stories updated in two days! It's a new record!

Woot!

Gawd, I'm tired. It's almost 1 am. That's why I'm spastic. I think that's why there are so many...odd...jokes in this chapter. I couldn't resist the christmas ones, and the sneeze was just begging to be put in. Anything else was unintentional. Oh,a nd something I forgot to comment on, the gopher burrows to describe the ship. Gopher burrows are like really complex mazes as far as I know. That's the comparison.

(1) I don't really know if this is a condition. It's supposed to mean that he over-stretched his muscles so they're torn and kinda wasted. It hurts.

(2) I don't actually know the technical statistics of a terminal in the GS universe, but this seemed to make sense.

(3) I know that's Cagalli's name, but I'm not sure if I spelled it right. 'Yula Attha', huh.

* * *

**Karone-sakura: **_Well, this one is a bit longer. I think. Hmmm… my tiredness is affecting my brain. I can't remember how long the other chapter was. Anyways, I hope you liked this one and thanx for the review._

**RainPure:**_Heh, I like Nicol and Kira as well. I was very sad when Nicol was killed, especially when they saved Athrun's life from a much more dire position. I mean, there were holes torn through the MS, and he ejected. So why didn't Nicol? Which is why he does in my fic. XD Unfortunately, I'm not always remarkably nice to my characters…it's just something that seems to happen. I don't think I'll make them suffer anything real bad though. _

**Yzak Lover Extrodinaire:**_ Well, Nicol had to find out SOMEtime. I wasn't actually planning on this way originally. Before it was that Nicol was put down in the cells and Kira went to talk to him and they had a sweet little heart to heart where Kira told Nicol about being a coordinator, why he fights, Athrun, etc. and Nicol told Kira why he fights, how he loves the piano, his teammates, and other cute stuff. But this seemed to work better. Hope you liked this chapter as well!_

**Yipster54:**_ I like my idea for the other fic, but I really have no time right now. Even if my inspiration is returning a bit, my schoolwork is suffering. Hmmm… well, hope you liked._

**ZGMF X-19A Infinite Justice: **_yeah, real awkward. Second offense with a government that hates his guts for existing. Not good at all. You'll just hafta wait to see what happens. XD_

**Artgirl150: **_Well, I'm gonna try to get the neko fic up eventually, but I already have Kira as a kind of AU neko in a different fic (Oddity) so I think I'm going to wait to start that one until I'm finished some of my current stories. And, unfortunately for Kira, things will get a bit worse before they get better. Thanx for your review._

**Nariko: **_Oh yes. Oh yes yes yes will there be Athrun. There might be some shounen-ai as well. Hope that doesn't offend. And I'm not telling between whoooo… XD_

**Nevermore-Amaya: **_Yes, but the punishment was for WHEN they reach Joshua, not on the ship. :D So things still may happen…And now they have a lot more time. Maybe…hmmm… If I elongate the fic, I might be able to bring Joshua more into it…and blue cosmos…Geez, I really seem to have it in for poor Kira. Although being captured or confined with someone would force them to have 'quality time' together. Question is, who? Hmmm…_

**Anei Tenshi Raya: **_Well, thank you. :) I get them out as fast as I can. And things will _eventually_ get better. A lot sooner for one character then the other. Hope ya liked this chapter._

**Silvercage: **_Thanks. Hope ya liked this one._

**SpiritsMelding: **_Heh, well, I hope you liked this chapter. Hope I didn't forget to put anything in…I was half asleep when I wrote it. Thanks for the review._

**Jiang Mae: **_Sorry I'm so late. No teens of August for me, a whole half month later. Hope you liked this chapter._

**Twisted-Galaxy: **_Heh, well, don't worry about updating. I might be sporadic but I'm definitely planning on finishing this fic. I'm a little fuzzy about some events that are gonna happen (can't decide if I want to add another major story arc or not) but it WILL get finished. Hope you like this chapter as much as you did the others._

**Easy-Company-506101: **_I suppose that's a positive way of looking at it. Mrgh, stupid writer's block. I swear, it was vicious. Seems to have calmed down somewhat by now, though. Hope you liked this chapter and thanx for the review._

**Deathbyhugs: **_Thanx:D Hope ya liked this chapter._

_

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_


	7. Interlude 1: Enemy?

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Seed, the characters, plot, setting, yadda yadda, etc. etc. (I don't even own the manga for crying out loud)

OH! And possible yaoi warning. Also, implied shounen-ai and yaoi! (Nothing overt, but the innuendos are there and they might progress, depends on my mood)

I … don't feel so great right now. Life is just getting me down. I dunno…

I don't like this chapter. I can't write very well anymore for some reason.

Ooogh…

Mrgh. Did you know does NOT sell the Gundam Seed full boxed set? Blech. That means the cheapest I can get it is at $66 for the entire series! Guess that's not so bad, but I REALLY don't want to pay for it now. And Xmas isn't for what, 3 mos.?

Oh, and sorry this is so later, I actually had it done two or three days ago but I had absolutely no time to deal with typing it all up.

Like I promised, one VERY different chapter, interlude time.

* * *

**_Italics_ **means thoughts 

**Bold **means….other stuff.

* * *

**Last time:**

"_Yeah, you're right Tori. Staying in here will just make me more miserable. I have the run of the ship until we reach Joshua, might as well make the most of it."_

_Resolutely jamming the picture into a hip pocket, the emotional young man set off for the hangar, his most prized possession and symbolic friend flapping along behind._

_

* * *

_

Nicol's New Fate

Chapter 5: Interlude 1 – Enemy?

-----------------------

**Rewind to a couple hours after the battle:**

_Dead…_

_Nicol…is dead._

Athrun still could not believe it; could not comprehend. As Yzak raved and Dearka mourned, Athrun could only sit in the hard seat of the transport ship in shock; the scene playing over and over in his mind's eye.

_The Strike…Kira…standing, lance pointed at the Aegis'...Athrun's… chest._

_He was begging, nothing new. Kira didn't want to kill him, no, but neither would back down. Nicol was there, in the background, supporting the Buster and Dual against the Legged ship and supporting flyer. (1)_

_"I don't want to hurt you Athrun!"_

_"ATHRUN!"_

_"Wha…? NICOL, NO!"_

_It was too late. Nicol flung himself forward, convinced Athrun was in mortal danger._

_The Strike whirled, just in time for the Blitz Gundam to impale itself._

_Through the chest. Through NICOL's chest._

_"ATH- aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!"_

_The final anguished howl cut off as the radio was destroyed._

_"Nicol…" Athrun whispered in horror, too much in shock to say anything else. The Blitz sagged, like a human, on the end of Kira's lance, blood red sparks spreading out of the ruptured chest cavity._

_"NICOL!" Dearka and Yzak called him away, pulling him back on numbed instinct as the Blitz exploded, destroyed. For good._

_Along with one of the few people he had ever considered a friend._

_The last thing Athrun ever saw of that bloodstained battlefield was the Strike, standing over Blitz's charred metal body like a warlord, smoke and flames turning Kira into a monster, a beast of war framed in flames._

_And it was all Athrun's fault._

The explosion

The final scream, cutting off horribly.

And that terrible final vision of the Strike.

These were what haunted Athrun as he slumped in a chair beside his remaining teammates.

_Kira, how could you?_

_And how could I not have stopped you?_

_------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

"Dammit!" Yzak swore angrily. Nicol was dead; he had accepted that, but there was no way he would grow to like it. The youngest member of the La Creuset team had held them together; brought Athrun out of his shell, tricked Dearka into acting serious, and mollified Yzak's temper. He had been a good fighter, despite his gentler temperament. And now he was dead.

How had this happened? Yzak was fighting back tears with swearing and snarling at all in sundry. Not that any of them noticed; Dearka and Athrun were sitting on either side, eyes glazed over in thought, and the pilot of the transport could not care less what any of them were doing. Now, if Nicol had been there…

_NO! Nononononono. Why is everything leading back to that weakling? I was never really great friends with him, so why am I dwelling on his death? We all knew what might happen, and he was the weakest; always prattling on about his music and how we should all get along. It's only local he would be the one…killed. Killed, gone, dead…we'll never see him again._

The scarred pilot did not notice his own bitter tears dripping to the metal floor.

_I can't help feeling guilty somehow. But why? It wasn't MY fault; he was killed by the Strike!_

His mind instantly latched onto the familiar scapegoat. In Yzak's mind, everything that went wrong in the war could be traced back to the Earthen Gundam and its mysterious pilot. Hell, even the political problems with the PLANTS could probably be traced back to him (her?). Not a particularly healthy or sane method of thought, but one that kept Yzak fighting with a purpose.

_The STRIKE. Of course, it's the Strike's fault! That's why I'm feeling guilty! In order to avenge Nicol's death, I must destroy the Strike and slaughter its pilot!_

The words, strangely enough, brought comfort. He had made claims such as this before, but revenge was the most justifiable reason so far. In fact, it was probably justified enough to convince the others to help! With all three soldiers working together, revenge against the enemy mobile suit was all but assured._ There is no reason to feel guilty, _Yzak rationalized_, Nicol knew what might happen when he joined the military, whether his parent forced him to or not, so his life was his own responsibility. His death wasn't, but soon that matter will be put to rest as well. Nicol WILL be avenged. _

_------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

For the first time since…well, ever, Dearka was introspective. This was not the first friend lost to war; hell, he had been closer to both Miguel and Rusty then he ever was to Nicol. Not because he didn't **like** the kid; he was just so innocent. It was a strange trait for a soldier, but one the green haired boy had always had, ever since Dearka had met him. Young rookies always flocked to him, reassured by the friendliness from an elite soldier while veterans wouldn't touch him with a ten foot pole. To them, innocence was bad; it inspired trust and an urge to protect, traits that could be deadly during battle.

The Blitz pilot did not deserve to die. If anything, he was the only one who should have survived, based on his ethics, morality, and love for life. But war did not take ethics into account, the people who died did not have to deserve pain to become victims, and enemy soldiers did not discriminate between who they killed.

_Which brings me to the Strike. _Dearka had been sitting, sprawled against the back of his chair with his arms supporting his neck as he gazed unseeing at the low ceiling, lavender eyes listless and glazed with grief and thought. However, as soon as the image of the offending machine flitted across his mind, they focused and narrowed as they always did at the thought of the mysterious and confusing enemy. _How the Hell did a natural pilot defeat a coordinator? Even if it was just Nicol, who specialized in stealth rather then hand-to-hand. Well,_ a mental snicker denoted his returning good humor,_ technically Mobile Suit to Mobile Suit._

A short growling sound pulled him from the internal reverie, compelling him to raise his head.

"Yzak…" The silver-haired pilot was sitting at an almost painful angle straight up, taught as a bowstring, hostility and pain practically glowing in ice-blue eyes. Dearka couldn't keep a flash of sympathy from passing over his face. Why did he always take things like this? There was no doubt how the other boy saw the situation. He would not blame himself; no, that was one belief Dearka agreed with; Nicol knew what he was in for when he became a soldier; Yzak would blame the Strike pilot. Or Athrun. Hopefully the former, blaming Athrun would create another world of trouble that none of them needed.

It was fairly disturbing how the he assigned blame: EVERYTHING had become Strike's fault. The Legged ship, the destruction of various fleet ships, the damage to the mobile suits taken during the battle, the technical errors inherent in the system, even the weather conditions.

Dearka couldn't take it anymore. If his friend kept this up, he'd go insane at an early age. And not happy insane, _homicidally _insane. Something had to be done.

"Hey, Yzak."

Those angry eyes, attempting to conceal deep sadness, turned towards the other in surprise. Dearka couldn't resist his humor was definitely back; his grief had been played out and the painful look on Yzak's face just begged for a distraction. But for this to work, he had to sound conversational…

"When's your next psycho check?"

Blink incredulousness "What?"

"I think you need one, you look like you're about to break." (2)

"The other's mouth gaped as a shadow of Dearka's cheerful smirk returned.

"D-Dearka…"

"Yessss…?" the teasing tone had returned with the smirk. Nicol deserved to be mourned, but he was still a casualty of war, one of many, and had chosen the path that led to his fate. Yzak understood that as well, his eyes expressed it. The tears were pushed back and the familiar annoyed spark flickered back into existence.

"Dearkaaa…" THIS time, it was a growl. Now, over time, Dearka had come to know and understand Yzak's many growls and grunts of expression. This one quite plainly meant 'start running'.

With a smug grin, the blondie shut up but did not drop Yzak's gaze. The staring contest continued until the transport prepared to dock at the base of the Desert Tiger.

_Well, _Dearka's grin did not drop, bringing a scowl to Yzak's face (he was trying to be intimidating) _at least his mind is off Nicol now._

And it was. Dearka's banter and playfulness had broken Yzak's solid wall of grief and hatred. The desire for revenge was still there, but for both of them, Nicol had slipped into the realm of just another war casualty.

* * *

Athrun on the other hand, was a different matter altogether. He was still sealed in a corner of the shuttle, dull emerald eyes unfocused and full of pain. The clamor from Yzak and Dearka's bickering didn't even nearly penetrate his fog of shock. 

_How did I let this happen? Nicol was the only one who cared about me, my only true friend in the military. I mean, I suppose Dearka and Yzak are my friends, but not nearly in the same way. Both of them are rivals, teammates. Neither would think of inviting me to a piano recital or a picnic in the park the way Nicol did. And yet, I just stood by and watched while Kira killed him! Why? Why does something happen to everyone I care about? First mother with Julius 7, then father with his work, Kira, and now Nicol! And by Kira's hand! If only I had taken Kira out in one of the earlier battles. But...I can't do that! Kira is Kira, no matter what I said! But…_

"Landing."

"What?" snapped out of his angst, Athrun glanced up at the nameless plot with deadpan eyes.

"We've arrived at the base. Landing will occur in a few minutes, so please secure yourselves."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Automatically, all three soldiers quieted down, temporarily back-shelving their emotional stress in the face of confronting Comm. La Creuset (3). After all, their mission had been a failure.

In Yzak's words, "We're running away like dogs, crawling back to the master with tail tucked waiting for a kick in the ribs (4)."

Dearka snickered and poked fun at the comparison, but privately agreed. What kind of soldier runs from the battlefield? Even after suffering a casualty? Hell, it usually made the remaining soldiers fight better!

_No, _he reflected, observing the desert through a strategically placed window, _the Commander isn't going to like this At All._

_------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ _

"Retreating from battle, getting bested by an enemy Mobile Suit, losing a soldier under your command, need I go on?"

Standing at attention a step in front of his teammates, Athrun stared straight ahead, face emotionless through the ridicule. "No sir."

"No? Very well, then." The voice was deceptively calm, concealing the way La Creuset was actually feeling. Athrun had **failed**. Underneath the mask, he was moldering. _Yet another of my team has died under the blade of Kira Yamato; the first two indirectly his fault, but the last was definitely his doing. Rusty and Miguel wee disposable, but I had plans for the young Amarfi, and I can only believe, from Athrun's reaction, that the deed was partially his own fault. Even if it is a mistake and his belief is unfounded, I don't care. Athrun needs to learn his place and realize that his loyalties must lie with ZAFT alone. It is high time to dispose of the distraction that is Kira Yamato. _His eyes narrowed, calculating, behind the ever-present covering as he gazed at the ZAFT elites in front of him, specifically their young leader. _And Mr. Zala will be the perfect tool to finish the job._

Without once changing his mask of cold indifference, La Creuset zeroed in on Athrun with sinister intent.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Athrun, why don't you tell me what happened?"

The semi-lethargic soldier blinked his slowly, maintaining his emotionless mask to counter his superior's, even as his fingers twitched nervously and his mind screamed, protesting the return of the hellish visions that had been haunting his thoughts.

"Athrun."

He flinched slightly, the multitude of emotions breaching the carefully constructed walls placed between his emotions and the world. This was the first time it had ever been breached by someone other then Kira; and of course, the perpetrator would have to be La Creuset: one of the few people with enough power to manipulate and-

"Ssst! Athrun!"

Dearka's hiss brought him back to reality. What…? Oh.

"Yessir." _What did I just agree to?_

"Very good. Please, recount from your point of view."_ Oh crap. Dammit, no way out now, I guess._

With a shaky breath, Athrun began, the now familiar images floating through his unwilling mind as he tried to remain as impersonal as possible.

-----------------------

**(5) At 1400 hours the La Creuset team, consisting of commanding officer Athrun Zala, Yzak Joule, Dearka Elfman, and Nicol Amarfi made contact with the enemy Legged ship. Upon engagement, the Earthen Alliance vessel, apart from using its own guns and cannons, sent out an aerial fighter and the GAT-X105 Strike Gundam to counter us.**

**Nicol in the GAT-X207 Blitz Gundam, Yzak in the GAT-X102 Duel Gundam and Dearka in the GAT-X103 Buster Gundam took on the aircraft and the main cannons while I took on the Strike in the GAT-X303 Aegis Gundam.**

**About 7 minutes into the battle, the Strike managed to get the upper hand and corner me, upon which Nicol abandoned his own battle and rushed to back me up. The Strike turned before Nicol could do anything and thrust its weapon through the armor over the cockpit. An explosion followed, destroying the GAT-X207 Blitz with Nicol inside.**

**While the Strike was distracted, Yzak and Dearka pulled me out of danger and we retreated to the assault ship after which we were ordered to return here, to the base of the Desert Tiger.**

-----------------------

"That's it, sir." Athrun stood at attention, forcing the tears not to show in his eyes. It did not seem to fool his commanding officer in the least. The masked gaze shifted to the soldiers standing behind his chosen victim.

"Dearka, Yzak, is this report accurate? Do you have anything to add?"

"No sir."

"…Yzak?"

There was a short silence as Yzak remained silent, seemingly struggling with himself.

"Yes sir, I do have something to add." The other three turned to glance at him, two startled (Athrun _had_ told the apparent truth), and one in surprised amusement. The blonde commander had a pretty good idea what Yzak would say.

"I want to go back. Go back and destroy that MS, slaughter the pilot of the Strike! That bastard killed Nicol and scarred me! He deserves to die! Everything that's gone wrong has been all his fault!"

"Calm yourself, Yzak." La Creuset remained emotionless, with only a touch of amusement in his voice.

"Permission to return to the front lines, sir?" Yzak, La Creuset mused, was very eager to get himself killed.

"Permission denied. Or rather," he amended "Denied until further notice. Your new orders are to suspend all current operations and report back to the PLANTS where you will be re-outfitted to an extent. When the upgrades are complete, you will return to Earth. Who knows? You might even get a chance at revenge." He couldn't resist twisting the dagger (6). "Isn't that right, Athrun?"

The Gundam pilot's stricken eyes snapped out of shock for the first time since the ordeal. Horror, rage, fear…, all came into play, but it was one almost nonexistent glimpse that caught the devious superior's attention. Hope and need. The young man desperately needed someone other then himself to blame Nicol's death on and Kira was the only possibly scapegoat available.

"Athrun?" he prodded cruelly, in a cool tone. The next step would be crucial to his plans. Which would Athrun choose? His best friend or his people?

"…Yes, sir."

This time, the superior officer did not try to contain his triumphant smirk. That was good enough. There was no need to tell Athrun how his own father had almost blamed him for the entire fiasco or how shaky relations with the council were since the battle. It was important for Athrun to blame Kira exclusively, no question about it.

"Good. Dismissed."

An emotionally distraught Athrun Zala fled the make shift debriefing room as fast as possible, desperate to work out what was going on.

_Kira…killed Nicol._

_Nicol…_

_Is Kira to blame for all of this?_

The empty hallways held no answer.

* * *

TBC. 

REVIEW!

* * *

Sorry about spelling errors, I haven't edited anything on ffnet, and that sometimes screws things up. 

And Yay for ellipses! I like dots…

Hmmm…oh, sorry if this chapter's kinda patchy. I accidentally screwed up my outline by putting it here, so I wasn't entirely sure what I should put in that would have deeper meaning in the upcoming chapters. Also, I am aware that I repeated a bunch of stuff, but it was supposed to be the same event from all their perspectives, so…yeah.

Sorry about all the short segments, I needed to show a lot of different perspectives to get the effect I was looking for, and this was the easiest way to do it. And overall, the chapter is about the same length. Another reason this chapter might be a little different is because I used a different writing technique, something I haven't done since the preview. And that would be writing in the back of one of my binders during class. -.- School has made me a very busy person.

Not to mention I don't have a beta reader and my story line is getting a bit fuzzed.

So now you get to see what's going on with the ZAFT guys. We'll be with them for about two chapters here with possibly another interlude later on.

I'm not entirely sure I'm allowed to post review answers anymore, but ffnet hasn't actually said anything, so I'm gonna keep doing it for the time being

This chapter sucked too.

Gawd, I don't feel like anything anymore. I'm so depressed.

* * *

(1) The Sky grasper. I'm guessing the ZAFT operatives don't know what the name is. 

(2) It might sound a little cruel, or at least it did to me after I typed it, but the 'joke' needs to be impactive enough to take Yzak's mind off the issue of Nicol's death and an insulting joke gives him something less…dangerous and vengeful…to fume at.

(3) The best I could get on Rau le Creuset's station was that he was 'Commander of the ZAFT fleet', so he's a commander.

(4) I DO NOT condone violence towards animals, I love animals, but I consider Yzak to be a fairly violent person. That's why I think this might be something he'd say.

(5) The report is from Athrun's POV, but it IS a report so he is keeping within the facts (as he saw them). His emotional view of the event was earlier. Reports are always as impersonal and unemotional as possible. (And hell to write because I had to research all the stats. -.-) Technical info from (Which said absolutely nothing about any titles for the La Creuset team. I'm beginning to wonder if they have official titles or if ZAFT just operates on a chain of command system) Also, there are many different ways to spell each last name, Dearka's more so then the others: it's either Elman, Elkman, or Elfman but since Elfman was what the official site said, that's what I'm using in my story for now.

(6) Figure of speech. There is no real dagger.

* * *

**Rainpure: **_Who are your two fav. Anime characters? And the yaoi won't be really overt, just innuendos in the background and maybe some hugging and 'realizations' and such. The story is just supposed to continue the series, not be a romance, so…yeah. Glad you liked it and hope you liked this chapter._

**Nevermore-Amaya: **_Heh, thanks for the good wishes. I…well…the alarms weren't exactly allowed to go off cuz Nicol needed time alone. So…I guess…it's cuz they didn't want to get in trouble for letting Nicol go. They figure since he's injured and tied up, they can find him themselves and not get chastised for it. The alarm will go off soon enough. Heh, interlude time… Glad you liked and I hope you liked this one as well._

**Yzak Lover Extrodinaire: **_Heh, not exactly a quick update, and not a normal one, but at least it's an update. Hope you liked the chapter._

**Artgirl150: **_Heheheh. Not in this chapter, nope. :) Maybe when we get back to them, maybe not. Not exactly a quick update, but as good as I could do with school._

**AnimeFreaks13: **_Heheh. Thanks for the beta offer, but I think I'm gonna continue on my own. See, I have this theory that if I get all my chapters up as rough drafts, I can come back and completely revamp the story later, making it much better before leaving it complete. Oh, and the whole Kira confined thing was… mrgh, even **I** don't remember. I think it was while they were at port and after they made it to Joshua. And on the orders of any superior officer. Ummm…yeah. Hope ya liked this chapter, should be back to Kira and Nicol pretty soon._

**Karone-sakura: **_Hope you liked this one. We're jumping now, but the story should shift back to Nicol and Kira in a few chapters._

**ZGMF X-19A Infinite Justice: **_Heh. Different chapter this time. Hope you liked it. And the answers to your questions will come in time. :)_

**Jiang Mae: **_I think I'm gonna keep responding like this for now; I haven't gotten any complaints from…well…anyone, ffnet or otherwise. And sorry, but I don't really have any fodder for your story. All my ideas will potentially become my own storylines. ;; Sorry._

**PyroManiacNeko: **_I liked the line XD. I thought it was funny; guess I have a demented sense of humor at one am… :)_

**Small-nicole: **_Heh, thanks for the compliment. I don't update very often, but I'm hoping to finish by January 06, so that should give you a kind of schedule. Sorta._

**Nariko: **_Heheh. Yep, here's Athrun. At least, for a little while. He's not in a chapter with Nicol and Kira until everyone makes it back to Orb. And that is…interesting. Oops…I just gave out a spoiler, didn't I? And I really loved Nicol too, that's why he's alive XD. And even with the little spoiler, there are plenty of surprises to come._


	8. Interlude 2: Confusion

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Seed, the characters, plot, setting, yadda yadda, etc. etc. (I don't even own the manga for crying out loud)

OH! And possible yaoi warning. Also, implied shounen-ai and yaoi! (Nothing overt, but the innuendos are there and they might progress, depends on my mood)

Still with Athrun and co. This will probably be the last chapter with them for now; we'll revisit the ZAFT team when the Justice and Freedom are done and ready to launch. That is when it will be explained what's happening between Athrun's team and Operation Spitbreak.

Ummm...not much to say.

Sorry it's so bad; I just couldn't get into it. Angst was not my thing for a while.

Hope you enjoy.

Oh! And registered reviewers get a special preview summary for the next chapter!

* * *

**_Italics_ **means thoughts 

**Bold **means….other stuff.

* * *

**Last time:**

_Kira…killed Nicol._

_Nicol…_

_Is Kira to blame for all of this?_

_The empty corridors held no answer._

_

* * *

_

Nicol's New Fate

Chapter 6: Interlude 2- Confusion

-----------------------

"Dearka, I swear, you make that crack one more time, I'll KILL you."

"If you do, you'll prove my homicidal maniac theory."

"Shut UP, moron!"

Athrun ignored his teammates, whoever had put them in adjacent seats could deal with the bickering. Normally, Athrun would tune them out and review his plans for the next battle or Aegis upgrade while Nicol separated them or came up with a different discussion topic. But Nicol was…

_Gone. He's gone; no more wide smile, pep talks, or good-humored banter. Kira killed him. And, like Yzak said, as a ZAFT pilot and friend, Nicol deserves retribution._

_------------------_

**FLASHBACK**

_"Geez, he sure had a lot of stuff for a little guy. What's all this paper?"_

_"His…compositions." Athrun spoke haltingly, his first voluntary endeavor since the battle. "Nicol always…always loved music, especially what he wrote himself. He was going to play it at a recital next week…" Pain deepened the shroud in emerald eyes. The three of them had been ordered to clean out Nicol's living compartment and locker and prepare his personal affects to be moved. Athrun was having a hard time coping._

_"He'd always…"_

_"That's ENOUGH."_

_"Huh?"_

_Yzak stood, ice blue eyes glaring without a hint of remorse at his superior officer. "Are you just going to mope around about what happened and cry? Nicol knew what he was getting into, war is not a game."_

_"But…"_

_"NO. He died; end of story. The only person to blame is the pilot of that MS, the Strike. I have long since vowed to end that monster's existence, but this is the worst offense so far. Nicol deserves to be mourned, but he deserves revenge even more. Are you going to sit there like an IDIOT, or give Nicol what he deserved, as a friend and loyal comrade?"_

_"I-." Athrun didn't know __what to say to that. __Kira…no, Nicol…no…_

_"Well, are you truly the coward you pretend to be?"_

_The insult stung. No, he was not a coward. Nicol did deserve vengeance. Kira was the enemy, not the friend. Slowly, his hand tightened around the music sheets, symbolizing his resolve. "No, and you will never get the chance to destroy Strike's pilot."_

_"Oh?" For a moment, Yzak's eyes softened with strange emotions "Wait, WHAT? WHY?"_

_"Because I'm going to do it myself. I vow to avenge Nicol's death, as a friend and comrade."_

_------------------_

Now they were about a minute from the PLANTS, having boarded a new transport, space based this time, many hours ago, and Athrun still held the music sheets tightly, as a reminder of his vow.

_The past no longer matters. The Kira I knew ceased to exist when he entered this war. It is the Strike pilot, not my childhood friend, who will die for what was done._

_

* * *

_

La Creuset observed his pawn with satisfaction over the video monitor, the plan might have been modified but, thanks to the direction of Athrun's emotional rebound, it would not be scrapped.

_Excellent. He's reacting just as he should. Amarfi's death was unfortunate, but will not make a difference in the long run. Now I must inform Athrun of Mr. Zala's request for an audience as well as the message from his fiancée. _A brief shadow loomed over his satisfaction. _But Ms. Cline must be handled delicately; if she influences him too much in the wrong direction, the boy might reconsider his loyalties towards ZAFT in favor of his friends. An occurrence that must not be allowed to take place._

With only a vague frown to denote his intentions, La Creuset ceased his observation and left to call Patrick Zala. Something had to be done about Ms. Cline to force silence; be it by choice, black mail, or… termination.

---------------

"Mr. Zala?"

"Yes?" Patiently, Athrun turned to the low level grunt, a lackey of the blonde officer. "Do you have a message from Commander La Creuset?"

"Yessir." The stiff-backed salute nearly brought a sad smirk to Athrun's face. The older man (for he did look to be at least 20, several years older then the entire La Creuset team) obviously didn't know of his dishonorable defeat at Kira's…no, the STRIKE's…hands. "At ease and deliver your message, soldier."

Assuming the 'at ease' position (which really didn't look too comfortable) with legs spread shoulder length, back straight, and arms at sides, (1) he began to rattle off the words by memory.

"Commander La Creuset wants to communicate his deepest sympathy and understanding for your current situation and wishes to make it known that Chairman (2) Zala requests an audience at 0900 tomorrow morning. And Ms. Cline has a message for you."

Waiting for the grunt to continue, Athrun became annoyed and prompted. "Well? What was her message?"

"That is not included in Commander La Creuset's message."

"Wait; let me get this straight, he told you to tell me he got a message for me? But didn't give you the message?"

"Correct sir."

With an eye roll, this was definitely his CO's style, Athrun dismissed the other and continued on his way home. It was good to be back; simulated birdsong floating through the air, artificially grown grass and trees providing oxygen…and an apartment awaiting his return. Small and bare, he usually avoided it; however, it was a place to rest and sleep and now that a decision had been made about revenge, he'd hopefully be able to rest easy without the tortured nightmares that had plagued him, both waking and sleeping, since the Blitz was destroyed.

----------------------

**_"Athrun!"_**

_**"Nicol!"**_

_**The young piano player appeared on Aegis' screen.**_

_**The Strike turned, raising its lance…**_

_**"ATH…AHHHHHHH-!"**_

_**"NO, NIC- what?"**_

_**It was no longer Nicol at eh screen, it was Kira; blood, dead.**_

_**Suddenly, the battlefield changed; rubble becoming houses as bodies replaced boulders and water.**_

_**"What happened?"**_

_**"Athrun, how could you?"**_

_**"K-Kira?"**_

_**He was there, still dead, but without a MS. His body floated in space as sightless, dull eyes, once vibrant and happy, seared Athrun's soul.**_

**_"How could you?" and suddenly, he wasn't there. Just…gone. The aching loneliness that accompanied brought a scream from the ZAFT pilot's throat._**

_**"KIRA, NO! I'm sorry! Come back, PLEASE don't die! Whatever I did, I'm sorry!**_

_**"too late…" the voice faded out.**_

_**"NOOO!"**_

**_-_crunch_-_**

_**"H-huh?" Something hit the Aegis, jarring its pilot. **_

_**"A sign? What is…" his eyes shot wide as light touched the single word, written in blood.**_

_**HELIOPOLIS**_

_**The neutral colony, Kira's home.**_

_**"M-my fault? No, It can't be…"**_

_**A blink and the sign changed, became shrouded in shadow; no longer did it stand for the destroyed civilian colony.**_

_**Or did it?**_

_**The same pale light touched it, turning Athrun's blood to ice.**_

_**It was for Junius 7**_

-----------------------------

"NO!"

-WHAM!-

"Ow…" Athrun lay in a cold sweat, having jerked awake. _Dream…it was just a dream…_ Still trembling and rubbing his hands nervously, he stumbling out of bed, intending to go into the bathroom. The bump he'd gotten from ramming into his bedside table upon awakening **hurt**. Unfortunately, he only got as far as the foot of the bed.

_I can't go back to sleep after that. Oh God, is that what I've become, a murderer? Is that how Kira sees me? Is all of this really my fault? _

_I helped destroy Heliopolis, yes, but most of the citizens escaped, didn't they? But if they all got off, why was Kira left behind? The professors at the military academy always said that ethics don't matter in war, but ethics are what started this one! But we're not still fighting for Junius 7, are we? Why ARE we fighting? I mean, I know Kira fights to directly protect the ones he cares about, but what about us? For revenge? But…the past isn't supposed to matter! If it mattered, so would Kira!_

With a groan, the young coordinator buried his head in his hands. Since when was war so **complicated**?

_Of course,_ he thought dryly, _since Kira showed up. That's when I started questioning my orders instead of blindly following. But now…I thought…damn. I don't know what to think. _

_In any case, I suppose I'd better prepare for my audience with Father._

_

* * *

_

"SO, what do you have to say for yourself?"

"…Sir?" Athrun stood at attention in front of the man his mother had loved, emotionless mask in place.

"One of YOUR men was KILLED in battle! That is what I'm talking about, Zala! Do you have any idea how this will look on my records? And you haven't even gone to see the family! What have you been doing for seven hours?"

Athrun did not answer.

"WELL?"

"Sleeping, sir."

"Sleeping? You couldn't put that off until after you at least **pretended** to contact the Amarfis?"

"I figured they would be asleep, sir. The transport arrived at 0200." A strange, painful feeling was growing in Athrun's chest. How could his father act this way? Especially towards his own son? And what had cracked the mask Athrun used to hide behind, where he didn't care how he was treated?

"I see. Understandable, I suppose. Very well, I can have my public relations employees iron out my record, but don't expect this kind of leniency again."

No answer.

"I would like our personal report on what happened."

Athrun told him, repeating exactly the words he had given to Commander La Creuset back on Earth. At the end, of his debriefing, the elder Zala sat behind the ornate wooden desk, fingers steepled as narrowed grey (3) eyes regarded the boy harshly.

"So, Kira Yamato."

He stood with a deep sigh, momentarily loosing his impenetrable, Stalinistic quality. (4) For just a second, Ahtrun could see the man he'd once called Dad.

"Athrun, you knew this day would come."

His own mask dropped slightly to reveal sadness.

"Yessir."

"The Yamato boy has betrayed his people, a pity, yes, but understandable. After all, his parents were _naturals_." He spat the word like a curse, walking around the desk to face his son. "Hopefully, they were killed in the Heliopolis explosion along with the rest of their kind."

Athrun went rigid. _W-what? NO, he's not supposed to say that…_

"All naturals deserve to die, Athrun, don't forget that. The coordinator boy you once knew was already tainted back at the lunar colony; that's why I separated the two of you. And over the years, he's become more and more one of them. This is the final straw, his last break."

Athrun heard the words as if through a haze. He was trying to be inspiring, but all the evidence was condemning. All naturals deserve to die? 'That's why I separated the two of you'? HE was the one to pull them apart? INTENTIONALLY? The pain and sadness were being replaced with anger and confusion.

_NO, impossible. Kira's parents and Cagalli are the only naturals I've ever known but they were just and did not deserve to die just because of their genetics. They were…are… as human as any coordinator._

"Do you understand now, Athrun? Why you must kill him?"

Athrun didn't answer right away. He couldn't; he had no idea what to say.

"Well, do you understand?" The mounting impatience demanded a response, so the young soldier gave what was expected of him mechanically, with no thought or heart. A very dangerous thing to do.

"Yes Father."

Instant silence.

"WHAT did you just call me?"

"I'm sorry sir. It won't happen again."

"It had better not, boy! Familial connections make a person weak! I cannot have a son while I serve as chairman just as you cannot have a father while serving in the military. Dismissed."

Turning to leave, Athrun stopped, hand clenching over the door knob indecisively. _I need to ask; if I don't, I won't get any answers. And I'll never have another chance._

"Sir, may I ask a question before I go?"

Curiously, Patrick Zala sat back behind his desk to observe.

"I suppose so."

"If-if…ummm…" A raised eyebrow. Apparently this question had quite a bit of inner turmoil and pain behind it. It had to, to overcome the mask the young man hid behind. Occasionally, Patrick missed seeing his son's expressions and feeling his love, but they were a necessary sacrifice for the greater goal.

"If … like you say…family is weak and the past should be forgotten…"

"Yes?"

"Does…does that mean…I shouldn't remember…Mother?"

"**_NO_**! That is a different situation entirely!" _**How dare he say that?** Does he think he can get away with twisting my words and comparing my beloved Lenore to NATURALS?_

"**_GET OUT_**! If you can even say that, you don't know anything! Not about me and **_not_** about my wife! You're just a soldier, an expendable grunt! Now GO!"

The young coordinator went.

Furiously, the chairman returned to work analyzing the schematics of the almost completed ZGMF-X10A Freedom and ZGMF-X09A Justice Gundams as well as plans for the upgrades of Duel and Buster.

Athrun needed more training, for sure. He was still questioning orders and judging the situation, not accepting his orders blindly and leaving Nicol in the past. Hopefully, the death of Kira Yamato would change that.

* * *

Said boy stood shaking in the hallway. A soldier? JUST a soldier? That was all he meant to his father? 

_Goddamit_. Fighting back tears, he left, walking swiftly away from the office. _How could Father do that to me? I-I mean, I don't know what I mean. I gave up everything for him! I left Kira because I trusted him, joined the military, and fought for HIS reasons! And he did it on purpose, made me hurt so much? Everything makes even less sense now. No matter what happens, I just…_

"Hey, you Zala?"

_Huh? _Jerking his head up, Athrun me the eyes of the officer standing before him. Graying brown hair, chiseled body, black eye patch and several scars were offset by a rakish grin and cheerful twinkle in his visible eye. He looked like a veteran, but without the militaristic, hardened feeling most projected.

"Kid? Are you Zala?"

"I-Yeah. I mean," with a slight blush (he never been caught with his 'mask' down before), the young man pulled himself together and cleared his throat. "I am Athrun Zala."

"Good! Great to meet you Kid, I'm Andrew Waltfeld."

"Er.."

"Desert Tiger? Ya heard of me?"

"I know who you are, but I thought…"

"Dead? Nah, just transferred, ordered out of Banadiya and off the Lesseps to come up here. Now, "He set off down a side passage, obviously expecting the younger man to follow. He did.

"I'd like to discuss something with you. Commander La Creuset told me to brief you on the Justice and Freedom Gundams."

"Justice and Freedom?" _Odd, I've never heard those designations before, and I memorized the full list of Gundam types at the academy; knowing them let me know their specialties and weaknesses so I could fight with full potential. Unless these Gundams are new…"_

"Yep! Just been completed!"

Ah.

"I've been instructed to disclose all information concerning the new weapons, as well as statistics on the new ship, to you."

"New ship?"

"The Eternal. It was created to carry the new gundams."

"Commander La Creuset told you to tell me this? Why?"

"Apparently, you and your…charming…companions (5) will be accompanying my crew and I on the virgin flight to Earth in two days time. We're going after the Strike."

* * *

TBC. 

REVIEW!

* * *

(1) I don't know the real 'at ease' position; this just seems to be the criteria from what I've seen in movies and on the internet. 

(2) I'm fairly sure this is Athrun's father's position at this point in time. At least, that's what the official site says.

(3) Anyone know what color his eyes really are? I'm pretty sure Athrun inherited from his mom, and I haven't been able to find documentation anywhere, so I just chose a color I thought fit.

(4) Stalin: former Russian communist dictator. Very harsh and cruel. Name means iron something or other. Thought it fit the character.

(5) He met them when they chased after the Strike and got temporarily transferred to Earth (before the Aegis and Blitz came down). They were put under his command and Yzak was not exactly the most agreeable person.

Technical information garnered by: www. what you were expecting was it? At first, this chapter was going to be much like the series episode after Nicol was killed; but I decided no, definitely not. And this pulls together the setting much better then the alternative.

I know flashbacks and dream sequences are annoying, but that was the only way to fully express the emotions of the experience that I could think of while maintaining a storyline. Sorry.

Sorry all, but I've been informed, by ffnet admin, that review responses like I usually do are not allowed. However, I CAN PM any reviewers who are also ffnet members directly. :) So you still get your response, just a better one.

ALSO, this means that I can give bonuses to reviewers. So, if you review, you get a free preview summary of the next chapter! Starting this time.

XD

* * *

Thank you my reviewers: 

**r**,

**ZGMF X-19A Infinite Justice**,

**artgirl150**, **Nariko**,

**Yzak Lover Extrodinaire**,

**Jiang Mae**,

**zcatrix-bloodlord**,

**karone-sakura**,

**Warp Ligia Obscura**,

**Nevermore-Amaya**,

**lilharochick**,

**Orahiko**


	9. Conversations

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Seed, the characters, plot, setting, yadda yadda, etc. etc. (I don't even own the manga for crying out loud)

OH! And possible yaoi warning. Also, implied shounen-ai and yaoi! (Nothing overt, but the innuendos are there and they might progress, depends on my mood)

And so we make our dramatic return to Nicol and Kira!

Dundunduuunnnnn….

…yeah.

Not so great, but I promised a chapter, so here it is.

Hope you enjoy.

Sorry the update was so late, but it is technically still Christmas day and, as you can probably imagine, I had more pressing matters to deal with.

Oh! And registered reviewers get a special preview summary for the next chapter! Those that reviewed last time know what I mean.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

* * *

**_Italics_ **means thoughts 

**Bold **means….other stuff.

* * *

**Last time:**

_"New ship?"_

"_The Eternal. It was created to carry the new gundams."_

"_Commander La Creuset told you to tell me this? Why?"_

"_Apparently, you and your…charming…companions (5) will be accompanying my crew and I on the virgin flight to Earth in two days time. We're going after the Strike."_

_

* * *

_

Nicol's New Fate

Chapter 7: Conversations

-----------------------

**-**tlak...tlak…tlak…-

_On dang (1), someone's coming._

Nicol ducked through a doorway, just as the foot falls entered his corridor.

"Damn, he's not here. Where could the brat have gone? I mean, he was wounded!"

It was one of the guards the young coordinator had ditched to find a monitor. Going very still, he became nothing more then a patch of deeper darkness within the shadows of a deserted room. The guard couldn't be allowed to find him.

"Guess I'll have to call it in."

_Call it in? _Nicol quirked an eyebrow at the inefficiency. _They're even worse then I thought; I escaped hours ago! Why didn't they report it then? I mean, it's fortunate for me but still…_

The sound of tapping computer keys drew his attention. With extreme care, he peaked around the door, staying in the shadows to observe the older man. It was the smarter one, go figure.

VOICE CODE PLEASE.

"Alpha zeta Z X M Y delta. Identificación: Hatfield (2)"

CODE ACCEPTED PLEASE STATE MESSAGE CLEARLY FOR INTERCOMMUNICATION SYSTEM.

_An intercom? He's not even going to report to his commanding officer first? _The boy shook his head in disbelief. _Any ZAFT soldier would be court marshaled for such a breach in protocol!_

_**LIEUTENANT MWU LAFLAGA, PLEASE REPORT TO HALLWAY C IMMEDIATELY. THE PRISONER HAS ESCAPED.**_

_Oh yeah, that's discreet and not panic inspiring at all. _Nicol rolled his eyes. _I'd better get out of here; more people will be coming to look for me soon. But I'm too weak still to take on the soldier…Let me see, what did the map say…_

Like most coordinators, Nicol had a photographic memory, making it a simple task to close his eyes and visualize the blue prints of the Archangel he'd been studying a few minutes before.

_Now, I was there, now I'm…here. Oh, heh, whoops._ Having been too preoccupied with fear to take stock of his surroundings, Nicol missed the fact that his 'room' of refuge was actually a 'hallway'. _Leads to personal and living quarters; shower block, bunks, storage, mess hall; then to the hangar. This could work in my advantage. The crew not looking for me will most likely be sequestered in their quarters, but I should be able to sneak past without a problem and nobody will think to look for me around so many people! And once I make it through, I'll be at the Strike! I might really make it; I could escape!_

Trying not to raise his hopes too far, the young man shifted warily down his new path, forgetting the Earthen coordinator he'd been researching not minutes ago in favor of the boy's Gundam; hopefully, his ticket out.

* * *

"Mr. Murdoch, is there anything I can do to help?" 

The broad shouldered mechanic looked down at the young ensign sympathetically. Poor kid, that prisoner had really screwed up his life. When Murdoch had recaptured the boy, he hadn't expected **Kira** to take the blame.

"Sorry Kid, Ensign Badgerule ordered me t'keep you away from all machines excluding the Strike. Ya must've really made her angry."

Kira stuffed his hands in his pockets dejectedly, hanging his head, Tori perching silently on his shoulder. _Great, as if my life isn't already bad enough. Now she has to take away my busywork so I actually have to **think** about what will happen._

"Guess so. Well," the sadness in his voice was almost palpable. "Thanks anyway."

"Kid, wait."

"Huh?"

Murdoch wanted to talk, comfort the boy, but really had no idea how. Kira really did leave the prisoner untied, so the sentence was not unfounded. But he didn't deserve such a harsh reprimand. He'd been given a possibly capital sentence for an offense a natural solder would have only gotten a stern reprimand for. All because he was a coordinator. That would decide his fate; no earthen official would be swayed by the fact that he was only a child or the sad violet eyes presently regarding the chief mechanic questioningly.

"Look, why don't-"

**_Breep! Breep!_**

"Uh, hang on."

There was a single phone in the hangar, to be used only in emergencies. When it rung, nothing took precedence, especially considering there was no intercom within hearing distance.

Kira watched blandly for a moment as the friendly man picked it up, then dropped his head again in depression. _At least he's not mad at me. The only reason he won't give me work to occupy my mind is because of Badgerule. _ He hunched his shoulders at the mental image of the officer. Even in his mind, her name left a nasty aftertaste. She was a typical earthen soldier; clean, uniform, obedient, competent, always adhering to the string of command, and possessing a deep mistrust, even hatred, towards all coordinators. _She hates me because she's been trained to, not because of who I am or what I've done. That doesn't make me feel any better, though._

"Birdie?"

"Tori?"

"Birdie!" his metallic companion took off gracefully, circling the massive vehicles (3) in a repeating figure eight.

_Well, that can't be good. _Over the years, Kira had come to trust the bird's programmed instincts. Tori always acted up when something was about to happen, especially when it had to do with coordinators.

"Oh no…" _The prisoner? Again?_

"Hey Kid?"

"Huh?"

With a sinking heart, Kira took in Murdoch's shifting eyes and slumped, unhappy posture.

"What's…wrong?"

"Well, the prisoner has escaped."

"Again?"

"Ah…yeah."

Uncomfortable silence fell for a second, leaving Kira no question as to what would come next. They'd never trust him running around free with the other coordinator on the loose.

"Look, I'm real sorry, but you need to stay here. The captain told me to lock you in while me an' the rest of the mechanics go help find the ZAFT soldier."

"L-locked in? The captain said this?"

"Sorry Kid."

Kira watched mutely as Murdoch nodded sadly and moved away, leaving from a side door behind the rest of his crew. The hollow clunk of a manual lock, one Kira had no chance of using his coordinator instincts for programming to escape from, seemed to echo through the now empty hangar.

_Do I really mean so little? Do they distrust me that much? I mean, Badgerule yeah, but the captain? No…it's not me; they don't trust coordinators. They think I'll be persuaded to defect if I see the boy again; and with how much I know about the Archangel and Strike, I'm not expendable. So, yes, they really do think that little of me._

With a hoarse sob, Kira leapt, moving from the floor up the catwalks, higher and higher until he was at the very top, 100 yards (4) from the floor. It had taken 10 easy jumps.

_Maybe they're right. Maybe I am a monster. After what I've done, how many I've been forced to kill. But not all coordinators are fighters, so they can't hate us all…can they? I mean Lacus…and Athrun…but he's a soldier…_

Upset, alone, and locked in, the youth curled up in the dankest, darkest, highest corner of his temporary prison.

There were no answers.

* * *

_So, if I follow this hallway, I'll pass the mess hall first; take a right, then a left to get to the living quarters. GO all the way through, take another left and I'll be at the hangar. I'll need to crack the door code and hack the Strike, but hopefully it won't be guarded. Once I'm inside, I'll use the MS's weapons to take out the door to the outside and leave, making for…oh, wait. The Strike has flight capability, right? (5) It'd better, I need-."_

"So, what do you think?"

"About the coordinator or the prisoner?"

"Both."

_Whoa!_ Nicol jerked back abruptly, mentally berating himself. That had been too close. He'd almost passed the door way of an occupied room. A glance inside showed tables, a food counter, and several soldiers slouched all over the place, most likely off duty. His gaze was quickly captured by the only two females in the room; also the only faces he recognized. What did they say their names were? Oh yeah, Badgerule and Ramius. The last official, La Flaga, was absent. The question had been directed at them, so now all attention was on their back corner of the room. Quickly, seizing the opportunity, Nicol crossed the open space, flattening himself against the other side of the door to hear the reply. Maybe he could find out more about his situation or the other coordinator.

"I am…disappointed in Kira." The first to answer was the captain "there is nothing to be said about the other boy, he is a prisoner of war, a ZAFT solder. That's it."

_Kira? She calls him by name rather then rank? That's odd...with ZAFT, even family members address by rank. Athrun's own father won't use his name. And there's no way the boy is related to that woman._

This was met with grumbles. The crew obviously wanted information about the recent events. Hopefully, they turned to the other woman.

"What about you Ens. Badgerule?"

"The Ensign was a civilian; he should not have been brought on board in the first place." Her eyes were cold, unyielding. "He is run by morals and beliefs, not military commands so his loyalty is faulty and depends on whim. The fact that he is a coordinator fighting coordinators is not in his favor and we have reason to suspect he knows a sold-."

"That's enough." The captain intervened, to Nicol's dismay. The dark haired woman was very militaristic, but open about her point of view and looser with information. "We don't have proof and Yamato has served well for several weeks. He's saved all our lives too many times to count! I personally believe he did not set the coordinator free, but that will be for the officials to decide. I'd suggest you all drop this topic of discussion and not mention it to Kira." Her tone left no room for argument.

Nicol slipped away as normalcy returned, deep in thought. Proof of what? Why was Yamato with them? So many questions and no answers or insight. But one thing struck home. The boy, Kira, had worked with and protected the naturals, but they were more then willing to betray him at the slightest mention of questionable information. Not only that, but even his defender, the captain, had referred to him as 'the coordinator'. Prejudice in allies…why would he put up with it?

_Well, maybe…_he grinned, sliding into the shadows by another door. _I could listen in on a few more conversations. _Cautiously, he leaned against a door in the living quarters, pressing an ear close. No matter who was inside, either he or Yamato was likely to be the center of discussion; they were the most recent interesting occurrence.

"…what do you think, Sai?"

"I don't know Mir. I mean, I thought I knew Kira, but then…"

"Yeah." A slightly nasal male voice cut in "he's a COORDINATOR. Not to mention he has a friend in ZAFT."

_…What? Me, or…?_

"That was a shocker." The original female voice was back. "But Kira's our friend! He's fighting to save us! He almost killed his best friend, not to mention nearly being killed by him, just for that!"

"Yeah, but…he's different now, haven't you noticed?" 'Sai' was back.

"Different?"

"Quieter, sadder, more secretive. I've found him crying or sleeping off exhaustion in the Strike so many times. He used to be so much more concerned with his image; now, he's a wreck. Not to mention the old Kira would never have tried to take Fllay from me."

"Well, how would you act? And don't pin Fllay's decision on him; _she's_ the reason he sleeps in the Strike most of the time." Mir seemed to be a devout friend. "He never wanted to be in this war! WE are the reason he's involved! Tolle, back me up here."

A new male voice spoke out, "She's right guys. You can't expect war NOT to take a toll on a person. I mean, look at the last battle alone. He took down the Aegis, destroyed the Blitz, **and** took an enemy pilot captive only to be court marshaled for not securing the pilot tightly enough!

Nicol jumped away from the door as if burned.

_Took down the Aegis? No…that can't be true. The computer said they all got away! It **can't **be true! It's **NOT** true!_

With a fearful whine, the crimson eyed boy took off faster the new as smart with his injuries. _Athrun has to be okay, that's why I sacrificed the Blitz!_ And the Strike's pilot, Kira, wouldn't have killed him. No, definitely not...would he?

"Ow!"

-THUD!-

With a low groan, Nicol pushed himself onto his forearms and slithered out of the center of the hallway. He'd been going too fast for his weakened body. The sprained ankle and pulled leg muscles had given out.

_Alright, calm down. They're still looking for me around the cell block. I just need to calm down. Only a few turns left. Besides, _he pushed himself into a kneeling position with a wince _I can't do anything about Athrun now and I'll probably never see Kira again if I manage to escape. Other then in battle, that is. _For some reason, the thought depressed him, but he shook the feeling off. _Now I just-_

"Damn him!"

_Whoops!_

A natural girl with bright red hair stomped past, not even noticing the escaped captive as he went perfectly still.

"I'm his girlfriend for God's sake! He's supposed to be here to do whatever I want! Plus, I need to have a little chat with him about that coordinator prisoner." She spat the word like a curse, drawing an offended growl from her eavesdropper. Thankfully, she was already well on her way and did not hear. "He's probably playing with his bird in that damn machine again. Stupid moron. Or maybe he's crying somewhere about when that kid was killed. Pfeh, he can remember one little girl but not my dad? I hate…" Her words dwindled into silence when she rounded a corner.

_Well that was…odd. Wonder who she was talking about? _An uncomfortable possibility came to mind, _Kira? Especially considering what those other people said…_

With care, the youth continued on his way, doggedly determined to reach his goal.

Two corridors and one close call later, he found himself faced with a blessing; a single manual lock, fastened from the outside, held the hangar door closed. Unlike most of his kind, Nicol's enhanced abilities leaned more in the direction of understanding the arts, not programming.

_Finally! Now for the Strike._ Faced with the final stretch of his plan, he stepped through the door, swinging it shut behind with a muted clang.

* * *

"Birdie!" 

_Huh?_

With a yawn, Kira woke up. He'd been quietly questioning the ethics of the war from his high corner when emotional fatigue and boredom took over. Surprisingly, he'd slept fitfully without dreams.

-grumble- _Why did Tori wake me up?_

_Where IS Tori?_

"Well, hello there little bird. What are you?"

Confused, Kira stood up, stretching. That voice sounded familiar, but everyone on the Archangel, or at least all the people he knew, were familiar with the mechanical pet.

_Well then, who is that? Green hair, limping, and covered in bandages. OH CRAP._

Suddenly, the events of the past several hours seemed vitally important.

The person below was the ZAFT soldier, the escaped prisoner responsible for the pending punishment and current lock down.

He was approaching the Strike, most likely with the intention to steal it and escape.

And Kira was the only person in a position to stop him.

But…would he?

* * *

TBC. 

REVIEW!

* * *

(1) Somehow, I really can't imagine Nicol swearing with any kind of vehemence, so …yeah. 

(2) Random name; he isn't in the series, I just made him up.

(3) Sky graspers, Strike, anything else in there.

(4) 1 yard3 feet; 1 foot12 inches; 1inch2.5 centimeters. IF you want conversions, you can do the math.

(5) Nope. None of the original gundams have flight capacity. Only Freedom and Justice do and they come in later.

All technical information and most spellings (Murdoch) courtesy of http/ I made Fllay seem like such a bad person, but…she is. I mean, so much manipulation and all make her seem like a rich little brat and stuck up bitch. Sorry if you like her, I don't.

Also, this was supposed to be the chatper where the preview fit in but it just didn't fit well. Same spirit though.

PM/replies are forthcoming to all who review!

Not to mention, you get a free preview summary of the next chapter! (Only if you're signed in though, same goes with the reply)

* * *

Thank you my reviewers: 

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	10. Decision

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Seed, the characters, plot, setting, yadda yadda, etc. etc. (I don't even own the manga for crying out loud)

OH! And possible yaoi warning. Also, implied shounen-ai and yaoi! (Nothing overt, but the innuendos are there and they might progress, depends on my mood)

FINALLY!

Gawd, I had this chapter done last night. But my computer had issues and the person who tried to help me solve them put it out of commission for double the time it should have been.

-.-

I'm still pissed at him.

And…the chapter sux, considering I did it so long after the other, but I figure I didn't really structure this one before I wrote it so that might also have a hand. I did manage to avoid the awkwardness of a different scene though, one I was thinking about putting in.

Didn't make it off the press, thank the lord.

**I think** many people will be surprised by what happens in the first part. XD  
Not one person who reviewed said they thought this would happen.  
But hey, I thrive on being unpredictable.

Oh! And registered reviewers get a special preview summary for the next chapter!.

* * *

**_Italics_ **means thoughts 

**Bold **means….other stuff.

* * *

**Last time:**

_The person below was the ZAFT soldier, the escaped prisoner responsible for the pending punishment and current lock down._

_He was approaching the Strike, most likely with the intention to steal it and escape._

_And Kira was the only person in a position to stop him._

_But…would he?_

_

* * *

_

Nicol's New Fate

Chapter 8: Decision

-----------------------

The strange little mechanical bird chirped gaily as it circled Nicol's head, emitting a sound resembling the word 'birdie'.

He laughed at the light irony and paused in his trek momentarily to catch his breath, panting and bending over slightly.

He was nervously happy, twitching at every noise as he finally allowed a serious hope to worm its way into his mind.

_But that doesn't mean I'm not still at risk._

With a sigh, he leant against the giant foot of his intended escape vehicle.

_Just a moment to rest. I'm going to need all my energy to hack the Strike and make it all the way out. The hard part is done, considering the soldiers all seem to be looking for me elsewhere, but the trial isn't finished. I can't get cocky. _But he couldn't wipe the glint out of his eyes or the smile from his face.

To think, less then 2 hours ago he was a prisoner on one of the most feared Earthen warships! Now he was alive, healing, untortured, and escaping with their primary weapon, not to mention important information garnered when he'd hacked the computer.

His smile faded at the thought of just what the information was. The contradiction between the recorded report and the crew's comments was worrisome and confusing, especially with the discrepancies on the fates of Athrun, Yzak, and Dearka. And the Aegis had been the only damaged MS, so if any single person hadn't made it, it would be Athrun. Plus, the teenagers he'd eavesdropped on said the Aegis was taken down.

Not to mention the boy. _Kira Yamato…a coordinator. How could nobody know there was a coordinator in the Legged Ship?_

"I think that's enough rest." He levered his damaged body off the Gundam, stumbling slightly before gaining balance.

"Birdie!"

"Whoa! Little one, I didn't even see you there!" he would have jumped if he'd been in better condition.

The mechanical creature was perched a few feet away, seeming to watch Nicol. A vague stirring of unease made him regard it more closely, looking for something…

"You couldn't possibly be a hidden security measure, right? I mean, you're not exactly low profile or inconspicuous (as a bird on a ship). Not to mention your tiny eyes wouldn't pick up much as view screens and your body is too small to house the kind of system naturals usually make. No, not a security system."

So focused was the young escapee that he didn't notice the lithe, quiet figure descending the catwalks far above.

"But…you seem familiar. I wonder why?" he attempted to adopt a perplexed posture, folding his arms and cocking his head at the mechanical pet, but winced halfway through and gingerly replaced his arms at his sides.

"That's probably what's making me nervous. Now what was I thinking about that you could possibly relate to? Athrun maybe?" He frowned. "Why would you remind me of him? It can't be, but I'm sure you two are connected somehow." He slowly held out a hand, urging the bird to hop up.

"Birdie?"

"Tch!" instead of obeying the implied request, the machine took flight, drawing a startled and annoyed grunt from Nicol.

_Faulty artificial intelligence, no doubt made by a natural. Unless it's like the haros Athrun made for Lacus. In that case, it'd have too much of an AI (1) and too little programming._

_"_That's what you remind me of! Athrun's creations!"

"Athrun?"

_WHAT?_

The whisper was almost inaudible, but enough to bring Nicol to his senses and trigger the inner alarm inherent in every soldier.

_Who is…!_

Before he could turn or even speak, a hard object descended on his head with a muted '**thwump**' of metal on flesh.

The sound followed him into unconsciousness and away from his only chance at freedom.

* * *

Kira caught the boy gently as he collapsed, mindful of the bandaged injuries. The original plan had been to go get help, but then he'd remembered his confined state and the reason for it. No good would come of running for help if the prisoner escaped and implicated him anyways. 

While the soldier was distracted with Tori, Kira snuck down form the catwalk, taking his time in order to remain silent.

He'd waited with bated breath to be seen, but the green haired coordinator didn't seem to be any more of a soldier then Kira was; he'd forgotten to check his surrounding and remain under cover. It had not been hard to sneak up behind the youth as he faced the Gundam. Admittedly, the outburst about Athrun and the haros had been a surprise, but not enough to compromise the mission.

Ruefully, Kira touched the lump on the boys' head, an unwanted addition to his collection of injuries, probably the only one caused by a gun.

Well, the butt of a gun anyways.

He hadn't wanted to use force, but when the ZAFT soldier began to turn around, he panicked and just…reacted. Not to mention it was the only way to capture him without using bullets and the business end of the weapon.

_Heh, guess I don't know how to use a gun right. Just like Cagalli said when we were helping the Desert Tiger. But it's because I've refused to learn, not because I'm remedial. It's just…I already watch enough people die without involving personal weaponry. _

After considering for a moment, Kira slung his once-again-captive into his arms with one hand under his shoulders and the other under his knees, being careful not to bump him unnecessarily, and walked the hundred feet or so to the phone Murdoch had been contacted on.

He was pretty sure this counted as an emergency.

* * *

Mwu La Flaga was, overall, a nice guy. Clean, funny, dedicated, good looking, and fortuitous with the ladies, he'd always considered himself a lucky person. As a result, he usually smiled and made a point to be congenial with everyone he had the delight to meet. 

But not today.

_Goddammit, can anything else go wrong?_

So far, the prisoner had escaped, not once but twice, Badgerule had shouted herself near hoarse at the captain's decision on how to deal with the boy (and he'd as next in the chain of command, been forced to stay and listen), and crewmen had been at fault in both the escapes. As if that wasn't bad enough, Kira was punished severely for his mistake, an action that weighed both Mwu and Murrue down with guilt and Natarle with misguided justification.

_I wonder _he thought dryly, waiting for a report at the prisoner's second point of escape in hallway C. He'd ordered five squads composed mostly of mechanics and guards to fan out and search for the youth and report back when they had positive proof of his location. _Why the other two guards aren't being chewed out. The boy actually escaped from **them.**_

It wasn't much of a question. He knew the reason Murrue had punished Kira was because of his race and, regrettably, knew he probably would have done exactly the same in her position. Kira was a great kid and Mwu was ready and willing to trust him with his life (already had on many occasions) but the fact still remained that he was a coordinator and every soldier that had been through the Earthen Military Academy (2) had had an instinctual mistrust towards all genetically enhanced humans drilled into their soul. The simple fact was that any coordinator; no matter if they were Earthen, ZAFT, or neutral; was much more of a threat then any natural.

_And Kira was already on thin ice for refusing to destroy the Blitz during the battle._

"Lieutenant!"

"Captain?" adopting his usual rakish grin, Mwu settled back in feigned relaxation as a pretty brunette sauntered towards him, trying a little too hard to act casual.

"Any word on the prisoner?"

La Flaga sighed deeply, blond bangs swinging slightly as he shook his head.

"No. I've set up search teams and they've scoured most of the ship in the past hour, but the kid escaped three hours before that. Plenty of time to find a place to hide."

"Oh." Her deflated voice made him smirk slightly. No matter how low his own spirits sunk, he was always ready to comfort a pretty woman in distress.

"What's wrong?" he stood straight, coming to a halt just barely far enough away to be considered decent. "If it's about the prisoner, don't worry. We'll have him under wraps in no time. I mean, hey, he's wounded and we're on a ship in the middle of the ocean!"

"It's not about him."

"Now, now, I thought I said don't be upset. Do you need some extra comfort?" the playful twinkle in his eyes and revived grin on his face made the teasing implication evident.

"Lieutenant!" but she was losing a fight against a smile and blushing brightly. "That's out of line! What I came down here to inform you on was that we're approaching Orb, and fast. We'll arrive within the hour." Though still amused, her eyes were now anxious. Mwu couldn't bear to let her know the truth.

"No sweat! We'll have the prisoner back far before that!"

"Thank you Lieutenant."

"Sure thing Cap'n. Can I ask you a question?"

"What?"

"Why did you feel the need to come down here yourself to tell me? Miss me?"

She laughed slightly. "Don't get cocky. I just had to get away from Natarle for a few minutes."

"Ah."

He waited for her to turn the corner before groaning and collapsing against the wall. Orb? Now? Not good, not at all. If they made the dock before the prisoner-Amarfi, was it? - had been found, they most likely would not find him at all. He'd escape into Orb along with valuable information on the Archangel and its personnel. Especially Kira.

_I wonder what would happen if the ZAFT officials found out the enemy MS that's been defeating their most elite squad is piloted by a coordinator. Nothing good, that's for sure. But then again, they might already know. I can't imagine that bastard La Creuset would go this long without finding out somehow._

Shaking himself out of his reverie, Mwu checked his receiver for any blinking lights to signal urgent calls, most likely with information on Amarfi's whereabouts.

"Not a thing. Dammit, I-huh?" A red light winked into existence on the right side of the small device. "Someone's found him! But I didn't assign anyone to that frequency…"

He pressed the button next to the blinker, connecting to the incoming call. "Hello?"

"Lieutenant La Flaga?"

"Kid? I didn't think you were part of the search crew."

"I'm not. Or at least I wasn't."

"What do you mean?"

"I was locked in the hangar per the captain's orders at the outset. I think Ens. Badgerule might have convinced her." Mwu had to grit his teeth to keep from growling. Kira was most likely right. Of all the racist bigots he'd had the doubtable honor of meeting, she was one of the worst. Well…not as bad as Azrael (3) or his cronies.

"I see. You alright? And what did you mean by you 'weren't' a part of the search crew? As in past tense?"

"Well…he sorta….the prisoner, you know…."

Mwu's eyes widened at a sudden flash of insight. The hangar, of course! But hadn't he assigned someone to search there? "And?"

"And, well, he showed up and tried…umm…he didn't really try anything but I immobilizedhimandnowIdon'tknowwhattodo!"

"Whoa! Repeat that please. SLOWLY."

"Y-yes sir. I sort of…immobilized him. And now I don't know what to do."

"You immobilized him? How?"

"I hit him in the head."

"Hang on Kid, don't go anywhere. I'll be with you in 3 seconds flat."

"Thank you sir."

As he disconnected and broadcast a new announcement to his team, the older soldier couldn't help shaking his head at the irony of the situation. Locked up and persecuted, Kira still served the people who hated him. Not the Archangel crew so much, but the Earthen Alliance overall.

Some times life just wasn't fair.

* * *

Nicol woke up slowly, twitching at the sound of unknown voices too close for comfort. He could sense maybe ten presences, but only two vaguely familiar ones were close. 

"…work kid. Sorry about the conditions."

"It's alright sir, I understand." Why did the more familiar voice sound so meek?

"No, it's not alright. We all know what happened was a mistake, a grave one yes, but an honest mistake just the same."

_Mistake?_

"Ensign Badgerule sure doesn't seem to think so."

_Ensign Badgerule? _An image flashed into his mind of a dark haired and angry female natural spouting racist comments to a mess hall full of people.

"I'm not surprised and, to be honest, I doubt this is going to sway her very much."

"Probably not sir."

Crimson eyes tried to open, but only slitted before snapping closed again. Bright lights made his head throb unbearably. _What did I get hit with? A bus?_

"Well, I know something that might cheer you up! We're coming up on Orb, be there within the hour."

"Orb?" there was an undercurrent of excitement and relief in the Earthen coordinator's voice. _There must be someone in Orb that he wants to see. _(4)

"Yep! And get ready kid, cuz Badgerule can't keep you in this tub the whole trip!"

A slight laugh. "Thank you sir."

"No prob. Well, I'd better get this one down to the cells."

There was a slight, painful jostle as the arms under his shoulders and knees shifted him into someone else's embrace.

Waitaminute, he was being HELD?

_Cells? I was recaptured! _ He felt like crying, but didn't dare. The two didn't seem to know he was awake and considering at least one would be angry when they found out, he wasn't going to tip them off. Not to mention crying might make his head hurt worse. What had happened?

"Sir? I hit him kind of hard. Do you think he'll be alright?"

"Ah, don't worry. He's a coor…umm, a soldier. He'll be fine. Don't waste your energy worrying about the welfare of the enemy."

"Yessir."

_That's what happened? He hit me?_

Several jarring steps later, his new captor was far away from the familiar presence of the boy and near the eight strange presences. Only once among them did the man turn around, the rocking motion causing deeper blackness to hedge Nicol's vision, foretelling unconsciousness yet again.

"Oh, and Ensign?"

_Ensign? He was calling him kid a second ago. Why the change I wonder?_

"Yes?"

"I'm going to see if I can get you on the prisoner's care roster. I'm sorry," and he truly did sound it, "but I think you're one of the few people on board able to subdue him if something goes wrong." _Not to mention you won't beat him up every chance you get just for fun. _The unspoken words hung in the air, most likely for the benefit of the others in the room.

"Yessir. I understand." He didn't sound very regretful.

"Alright then. Everything square between us?"

"Yes sir."

"Good. Seeya later Kid. Keep your chin up."

"I will."

With those parting words, the older soldier, the natural, left the room carrying Nicol.

This time he'd personally make sure the ZAFT captive got locked up tight.

* * *

**At the same time, far away:**

"We're going in that?"

"Yes. It's called 'The Eternal'."

"How did they manage to build something so huge and…pink…in secret?"

"Same way they built the Justice and Freedom. And I don't think the pink will be staying."

"The what and the what?"

"The…it's classified."

"Pfeh, whatever. Is the Commander coming with us?"

"I don't know. Probably not, the Vesalius is his ship."

"Woot! Sign me up now!"

"Shut up Dearka."

"You're no fun. Ya know that Yzak?"

"Whatever. Athrun, when do we leave for Orb?"

"Tomorrow."

* * *

TBC. 

REVIEW!

* * *

(1) AI-Artificial Intelligence. And the haros are the little mechanical ball creatures Athrun made for Lacus 

(2) My own invention

(3) Leader of Blue Cosmos. Please let me know if I got his name wrong.

(4) Don't worry, this isn't an incest story. The two of them are just friends, like in the series.

Hmmmm….mrh. Not a great chapter, but I think that's because I did so long after the last chapter. I forgot the details.

Hope you liked it!

* * *

PM/replies are forthcoming to all who review! 

Not to mention, you get a free preview summary of the next chapter! (Only if you're signed in though, same goes with the reply)

* * *

Thank you my reviewers: 

**Nariko**

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**Nevermore-Amaya**

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**Maryam Khanoom**


	11. Conversation

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Seed, the characters, plot, setting, yadda yadda, etc. etc. (I don't even own the manga for crying out loud)

OH! And possible yaoi warning. Also, implied shounen-ai and yaoi! (Nothing overt, but the innuendos are there and they might progress, depends on my mood)

Wow, this chapter was…unexpected.

A sudden burst of inspiration hit me at midnight on Saturday (Well, technically Sunday). And I was just like… "Oh, that would be an interesting way to start this chapter, then this could happen, and…"

It was probably brought on by my finding out that Gundam Seed is back on the air! Woo! Only problem is that it's on at 2 am. Oh well, Tivo is my friend. And it's only on sometimes. Every other week or something like that.

The episode 'The Descending Sword' was on. The one where the Cyclops system goes off and Kira returns to Earth. Kind of funny how this takes place right around there and it came on shortly after I started writing this chapter…

I hope you like it. I'm not really sure what to think.

Reviews dropped last chapter. So I'm sad and unhappy.

Oh! And registered reviewers get a special preview summary for the next chapter! Those that reviewed last time know what I mean.

* * *

**_Italics_ **means thoughts

**Bold **means….other stuff.

* * *

**Last time:**

_"Pfeh, whatever. Is the commander coming with us?"_

_"I don't know. Probably not, the Vesalius is his ship."_

_"Woot! Sign me up now!"_

_"Shut up Dearka."_

_"You're no fun. Ya know that Yzak?"_

_"Whatever. Athrun, when do we leave for Orb?"_

_"Tomorrow."_

Nicol's New Fate

Chapter 9: Conversation

-----------------------

"Ugh."

Nicol winced slightly as he opened his eyes, expecting the always present fluorescent lighting to aggravate them in their current state, sensitized through pain.

But there was no light; his surroundings were dim and cold.

Cautiously, he sat up; waiting to feel the same pain he'd fallen unconscious to.

It was gone, degenerated into nothing but a dull ache.

_That's...not good. It means I've been out long enough for a concussion to heal. How long does that take? Where am I anyways? Last I remember, something hard and heavy hit the back of my head while I was trying to escape in the Strike. I vaguely remember waking up for a minute after that, but just as a blur._

Crimson eyes opened as he sat up, taking in his surroundings.

_This is definitely not the medical ward. Oh no…_

It was what he had feared and known would happen since the moment he'd been brought on board the legged ship.

He was in a cell.

Three thick metal walls fronted by a barred door enclosed him in a space no bigger then six by six feet. The only furnishings were a bed covered with a thin sheet, a sink, and an exposed toilet. All of it was made of cold metal and illuminated by a string of dim lights running along the corridor far outside of his reach. A single small surveillance camera kept watch from its mount over the empty cell facing Nicol's own.

There were no obvious locks or hinges, no possible means of escape.

_And I'm alone. There are no guards or other prisoners; they left me in my own private corner of hell. THIS is what I feared would happen when I was first captured. I-I didn't want it though. I just…I want to go home._

Solitary confinement would have been hard to bear for any member of the La Creuset team, but for Nicol, a young man who thrived on making others smile and on the vividness of life, it was next to unbearable. He had stayed strong and managed to get his hopes up only to be dragged down into the despair of knowing he had not succeeded and there was no longer a possibility of escape.

Therefore it was not surprising that quiet sobs were the first sounds Kira heard as he entered the Archangel's prison level over an hour later.

* * *

_He's crying._

Kira paused several cells away from his destination as a wave of guilt swamped him. He knew he'd done the right thing in protecting his friends and the Earthen Alliance, but that didn't change the fact that a boy no older then himself was miserable as a result.

The food tray felt like lead as the earthen coordinator inched forward reluctantly. _I really don't want to do this, but the Lieutenant was right, I'm the only one on the Archangel who won't judge him by what he is. Even Sai, Mir, and Tolle would react differently. And Flay…well, Flay's Flay. I'm more certain now then ever before that I made the right decision last time we were at Orb. Unfortunately, she still seems to think she's my girlfriend._

Tori, mercifully silent until now, chirped quietly in his ear and fluttered its wings once, bringing him back to the present and the one he was supposed to be feeding.

_Maybe…I could just slip the tray in and walk away. He seems too engrossed in his personal issues to notice and I can come back for the tray later, when he's sleeping._

Silently and without looking in the cell, Kira pushed the food tray through its slot and turned to go, relieved his plan had worked.

"Why?"

The choked whisper stopped him short.

"I read your profile, I know what you are. Why would you do this?"

It was not a question Kira could leave hanging. "Because I had no choice."

Nicol's eyes widened and he brushed the tears from his eyes, trying to regain his composure. He'd thought the other boy would laugh, mock him, yell, or at the very least refuse to speak. He would never have believed Kira would answer, no matter how unhelpful the words.

"Why didn't you have a choice?" his voice was hoarse from crying.

"Exactly because of what I am. I'll be back for the tray later."

"Birdie!"

"WAIT!"

Moving away, Kira had not noticed Nicol's eyes widen at the sight of Tori. The bird belonged to him? That made sense, as did the feeling that the bird and Athrun had something in common.

_But the last time I saw Athrun was during the battle, and after what all those natural soldiers said…_

"Please."

Kira jerked, startled at the pleading, scared tone. He turned and, for the first time since he'd come down, met Nicol's gaze.

"Please…what happened to my team? Did they make it? Did the Aegis?"

_Wait, didn't he say he'd accessed the computer? How could he not know what happened?_

But the look on his face said quite plainly that he didn't.

_I shouldn't tell, but it couldn't hurt. Could it?_

"Please." The quiet note of despair, the tone of a person who's lost everything, made up Kira's mind. He had been in those shoes enough times to know just how agonizing it was and how much it meant to have a single shred of hope or knowledge to hang on to.

"They made it. All of them."

"Even the Aegis?"

Kira smiled slightly, turning away. "Yes, even the Aegis. Athrun survived."

Nicol felt like a great weight had been lifted from his soul. They'd made it. And there was no eyewitness account more trustworthy then that of the person who had been trying to kill them, who would have seen them escape or die.

_Oh thank you God. I'm not religious but thank God Athrun's okay. Athrun- wait a minute. _His head jerked up, eyes widening. _ He used Athrun's name!_

"Hey, hey wait!"

Kira paused partially down the hallway, uncertain.

"How do you know Athrun?"

"What! How did you…?" his face went pale in horror.

_I betrayed our secret! He knows! I need to get out of here! _Without a second thought, he made a beeline for the exit, fleeing Nicol's cries of confusion.

He left the prisoner gazing after him, head framed by the iron bars he was gripping.

Slowly, the young coordinator staggered back to the bed, picking up the food tray on the way. As he began to eat, he could not help but be both relieved and confused.

_At least I have one definitive answer. Of course, getting it brought up even more questions._

"Oh well, the others are all right, that's what matters." Taking comfort, Nicol began to devour his lunch with a vengeance.

_I haven't eaten since I was captured! And I'm sure Yamato will be back later, I can ask him again then._

_

* * *

_

Kira shuffled down a hallway towards his room in a fearful, depressed mood. _I have to go back later to get the tray. What if he asks me again? I can't believe I let that slip! I've been making so many mistakes around him…_

Despite his fears, Kira felt a bit better then when he'd gone down. The boy had stopped crying and his head didn't seem as badly hurt as it had looked yesterday.

_I can't believe it took him a full day to recover. The medic said that was only because his body was already starved for rest from his escape attempt and this allowed him to heal entirely, but I still felt bad. It's funny how he didn't seem to notice all the bandages were gone._

"Hey Kid!" La Flaga hailed him just as he was about to enter his room.

"Sir?"

"What are you doing?"

"I just finished feeding the prisoner, sir."

"Ah." A guilty look flashed over Mwu's face. "I'm sorry about making you do that."

"Sorry?"

"Yes. I know you probably don't like him much after everything he's done and all the trouble he's caused not to mention he's a member of ZAFT, but you were the only person I could think of that will be able to remain calm no matter what he says or does.

_Well, calm in the sense of not killing him. _"I understand sir."

"Maybe, maybe not, but I feel bad so I decided to do something for you in return for all the grief I've helped serve you."

"I-wait, what?" Kira blinked up at him, startled. Mwu grinned at the reaction. He finally had some way to repay the boy at least a little.

"I found out Ensign Badgerule ordered you to stay onboard during our Orb visit. An order you seem inclined to adhere to in word and spirit."

"Why wouldn't I?" he couldn't help cracking a small smile when he realized the older man was teasing gently. It felt good to be back in favor and trusted.

"Heh. Both me and the captain went over the order and decided it was not within the boundaries of your existing punishment."

"Sir?" Kira could barely believe his ears. Here he'd gotten ready to be penned up on the ship the entire time, mostly likely locked up in the hangar again, and now he had shore leave? And the captain agreed?

"Well, we had to make a few concessions but you're allowed to leave the ship so long as you're back before nightfall and the rest of the punishment, namely the part where you need to do whatever Ens. Badgerule tells you to, is postponed until we leave Orb."

"Th-Thank you sir!"

"Sure kid, no prob." The blond man left him there, almost gaping in shock.

"Oh, and kid? The princess will be visiting later tonight. If you want to see her, you might want to get any other chores out of the way."

"Cagalli's coming?"

"As the princess. So be respectful."

"Yes sir."

"See you later?"

"Yes sir. On the outside."

* * *

Nicol lay on the hard bed, counting the seams in the ceiling for about the 500th time. Plenty of people talked about how painful being a prisoner was, but few ever mentioned the debilitating boredom.

It had been at least five or six hours since he'd seen anyone. So far, he'd counted everything in sight and thought about topics from his family and friends to the schematics of the Blitz. Not to mention the possible connection between Athrun and the Earthen coordinator and every imaginable way a coordinator might find themselves working for the naturals. His eventual fate managed to sink to the back of his mind where it could be ignored.

What he thought about the most was music. The intricate little black lines weaving a complex scripture of melody haunted his mind and formed themselves into songs he knew or was considering writing.

"What I wouldn't give for some paper and pens. Or at least a recording pad."

"Birdie?"

"Hm? Oh, it's you."

The small yellow and green bird stood just outside the cell door. "But you're the pet of the Strike pilot. What are you doing without your master?"

The scent of food assailed his nose. _Ah, it's dinnertime._

Minutes later, the boy appeared in front of the cell. He didn't bother to hide or run like last time.

Nicol turned over but did not sit up as his captor pulled out the empty tray and pushed in a full one. He waited until Kira was a safe distance away, where he'd need to work to get back if Nicol said something to make him angry, before speaking at all.

"Hello."

Kira paused and quirked an eyebrow at the unexpected statement, turning back. "Um, hi."

"Aren't you going to wait for me to finish so you can take the tray?" _Just think of some reason to keep him here._

Kira blinked several times. "Well, okay."

An awkward silence fell. Kira was scared; he wanted to apologize for all he had done but not talk about Athrun. And that topic would most certainly come up if either of them spoke much. _It just feels so weird that one of Athrun's comrades, someone he knows personally, is right here._

"I'm sorry."

"What?" _Why is he sorry? I'm the one that hurt him! Several times, actually._

"I said I'm sorry. I never wanted you to get hurt when I tried to escape."

_Oh_. "I…why are you telling me this? We're supposed to be enemies."

Nicol flinched; of this he was very much aware. "Yeah, I know. My friends in ZAFT would probably hate me for saying this, but I can't get over the fact that you saved me from that soldier and I pretty much got you court marshaled in return." He looked away, waiting for an angry affirmation.

It didn't come.

"It wasn't your fault, it was mine."

"Yours?" his head jerked back, startled. "How?"

"If I hadn't taken out your MS and captured you, you wouldn't have been in a position to try to escape. Also, I did leave the restraints on too loose. It was an accident, but," he shrugged, leaning back against the opposite wall to find a more comfortable position.

"Your superior officers didn't seem to think it was an accident."

"Yes, well, that's because of what I am. They're military; they can't help but be prejudiced no matter how nice they are. Besides, it really was my fault."

"No it wasn't."

"Yes it was."

Nicol stood up and stretched, making Kira tense slightly until he sat next to the tray with his head close the bars, watching the other boy.

"No it wasn't. I'm the one that tried to escape. It was my fault."

"But-."

"Birdie!"

"Huh? Oh, I remember that." The captive coordinator blinked at the metal creature at its new spot on Kira's shoulder. "I was looking at it when…" The uncomfortable atmosphere returned.

"Are you done with your tray?"

"What?" Nicol had been staring at the bird, not paying any attention. "I haven't even started."

"Maybe I should come back later to get it."

"No! Stay. Please."

"Why? Don't you hate me for all I've done to you?"

_Hate him?_

"Because I'm about ready to crack from boredom. You're the only company I've got."

Kira chuckled quietly, returning to his former spot. "I can't stay long. I'm meeting someone in about a half hour. But I'll be back with your breakfast tomorrow morning."

"Is it night already?"

"It's around 4:00 pm. Not really afternoon or night."

"How long was I out?"

"Almost a full day."

Nicol stayed silent for a few minutes, horrified. "A day? A little concussion kept me out an entire day?"

"The doctor said your body was exhausted and forcing you to sleep in order to rest your, well, everything."

"They brought a medic down?"

Kira blinked slightly, noticing two things. One was the fact that Nicol didn't seem to think this was normal behavior, implying that ZAFT forces were much rougher with their prisoners. The other was far more important; Nicol had used the omnieffective and distant 'they'. Not 'you' or 'your superior officers' or 'you guys'. 'They'.

"After you'd been out for about five hours."

_Probably just wanted to make sure I was alive._

"Hm."

"Do you feel better?"

"Actually, yeah. Much."

"Good."

"Thanks, but…why do you care? I mean, like you said, we're supposed to be enemies. But I noticed from the very first time I saw you that you treated me more like a misguided friend then an opponent."

Kira's shoulders slumped. "Yeah, I know, it's just…I don't know. It doesn't matter. I'll be back later." With that said he stood up and started off down the corridor.

_I guess I offended him somehow. Since when are soldiers so sensitive? Well, I guess I am, but I figured the EA forces would be…rougher, I guess. Less human._

"I'm sorry if I said something wrong."

"No, it wasn't you."

"Before you go, my name is Nicol."

_Huh?_ Kira paused and turned, to find the captive reaching his hand through the bars almost desperately. It would not be smart to go near him, but he didn't appear very dangerous. Besides, he seemed like a good person.

"Kira." They shook, dropping hands almost instantly.

"Kira, I wanted to ask you about before. You said Aegis, then-"

_Oh, I know that would come up sooner or later. _Kira clenched his jaw and shifted away warily. That was not a question he was willing to answer.

Nicol picked up the response instantly. "You're not going to tell me, are you?"

He shook his head emphatically.

"Well, thanks for letting me know he's alright."

Kira flushed slightly at the rare expression of gratitude. "Sure."

"I hate to ask for a favor, but would you be willing to do something for me?"

"Does it involve escaping?"

Nicol chuckled nervously. "No, not at all."

"What is it?'

"Could you bring me paper and a pen?"

"Why?"

"For something to do when I'm stuck down here all alone."

"What?"

"It's…kind of personal."

"Well, I'm not technically allowed to and if I don't know what you're going to use it for…"

"Come on, how could I use paper and a pen to escape?"

"I don't..."

"If I told you, would you bring it?"

Kira blinked, put off by the embarrassment in Nicol's tone. Just what was he planning on doing?

"That depends on what you're going to do."

"Music. I write music. That's what I want to do." He flushed, expecting a chuckle or sarcastic comment. Not cruelty, just a jibe like his own team mates did when he mentioned his love of composing.

"I guess I could try."

"Really?" _Whoa, he's actually willing to do it? Even though he should hate m? Then again, he does blame that on himself._

"But if I go get paper, you need to finish your food so that I can take the tray up."

Nicol laughed and picked up a plate, beginning to eat. "Deal."

Kira smiled. "Alright. I'll be back soon."

He left, feeling lighter and less angsty then he had in ages.

Nicol remained, still uncertain and thoughtful but elated in the fact that he'd found a fri- no, not that. Too strong a word for their situation.

He'd found someone with a kind heart who was willing to associate with him.

Not to mention bring him paper for his music.

* * *

TBC.

REVIEW!

* * *

Not great, not bad. I've been looking forward to doing that prison scene between Nicol and Kira for a while and I'm not sure I did it justice.

Heh, did anyone notice what day this is in relation to what day Athrun and the others are supposed to arrive?

XD

There have been a few other hints on what is to come, but I won't point any of them out. You'll just need to wait and see.

No explanation notes this time.

* * *

Hope you liked it!

PM/replies are forthcoming to all who review!

Not to mention, you get a free preview summary of the next chapter! (Only if you're signed in though, same goes with the reply)

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Thank you my reviewers:

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**Orahiko**


	12. Paper

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Gundam Seed, the characters, plot, setting, yadda yadda, etc. etc. (I don't even own the manga for crying out loud)

O.O

Woooooooowwww…I got THIRTY reviews.

I'm really, really flattered guys. I'm glad so many people like my story!

And actually, the reason this story got bumped to the top of my 'update' list was because it got so many reviews last chapter.

yes, I know I wasn't that prompt but I had lots of junk going on, still do, on top of the fact that my computer wasn't really working, I was sick, and I had a massive writer's block (still have it but I think it's fractured a little bit). But it got written and up before anything else!

Oh! And registered reviewers get a special preview summary for the next chapter!

* * *

**_Italics_ **means thoughts

**Bold **means….other stuff.

* * *

**Last time:**

_Nicol remained, still uncertain and thoughtful but elated in the fact that he'd found a fri- no, not that. Too strong a word for their situation._

_He'd found someone with a kind heart who was willing to associate with him._

_Not to mention bring him paper for his music._

* * *

**Chapter 10: Paper**

Nicol finished his food and sat back to wait for Yamato's return.

It didn't take long for him to get bored.

_Geez, I wonder what's taking him so long? It doesn't take an hour to find a couple sheets of paper and a pen! What if he was caught?_

Agitated, the coordinator stood up and began to pace.

_He did say bringing anything but food would be stepping outside the rules, after all. He was already on thin ice, my fault, and being caught bringing me stuff would make everything worse. Why did I have to ask him?_

"Tori!"

_Huh?_ _Ah, the bird._

Instantly, he ceased pacing and stepped up to the bars, pressing his face as far out as he could in an attempt to look up and down the gloomy corridor. He hadn't heard footsteps, but Kira was a coordinator so it was possible he could have made it past silently.

"Kira?"

There was no answer.

He tried again, a bit louder. "**Kira?**"

_He's…not here._

Feeling betrayed; if the bird was there Kira was fine, he'd just chosen not to come back; Nicol pulled away a few inches. "Maybe he's not here because he decided not to bring the paper after all."

The clicking sound of metal tapping metal interrupted him and drew his gaze downward. The little bird was standing at his feet with a small piece of paper in its beak, watching him almost beseechingly and hopping every now and again to a different position.

"Or maybe he didn't abandon me at all."

After being relieved of its burden, the bird hopped back through the bars on the door and took flight, chirping gaily on its way back to the upper decks, presumably where its master was.

The captive watched wistfully, envying its freedom, until it was out of sight at which point he turned his attention to the delivery.

The fragment of paper was folded over itself many times, giving the impression of an envelope hiding a message.

A message?

Oddly, Nicol felt touched by the small favor. It wasn't much, but Kira had actually felt the need to give him, as a prisoner, an explanation for his actions.

_What a strange soldier. _He began unfolding the note. _How did he survive training without learning to think of enemies as sub-human? Even I wouldn't treat a captive as my friend and I'm as friendly as they come!_

The message was short and succinct but specific just the same.

**Nicol-**

**I'm sorry but the person I told you about, the one I need to meet, got here early. I'll bring the paper down and pick up the tray later or tomorrow at breakfast.**

"Well that was disturbingly specific." Nicol shook his head in disbelief. "Doesn't he know what would have happened if it was intercepted? He'd probably be in even more trouble then he is now! Or worse, they might think he's a spy!"

_Why is he taking so many risks for me? Especially unnecessary ones. Is he really like this or is he just trying to fool me? Somehow I get the feeling it's the former but how would someone like that make it into the military? How would his values survive the military?_

He began to pace in the confines of the small cell, trying to figure out the puzzle that was Kira.

_There are so many aspects of his character that don't seem to fit. And I'm fairly certain he'll just evade the topic or run away again if I ask him directly about any of it. I'm okay with that, I guess; if I did get information I'd just hurt him with it. Well, when I escape. **IF** I escape. And I don't want him to get hurt any more then he has, he's been through enough in return for saving my life._

He paused in the back left corner of the enclosure for a moment in surprise. Since when did he start thinking about the enemy soldier before himself?

With a slight frown, the young coordinator resumed pacing, this time knitting his brows to complete the look of concentration. He would have plenty of time to mull everything over before the other boy arrived.

* * *

"Nice to see you again Princess."

The blond young woman flushed slightly and glared at the cocky older man standing before her, the commenter.

Mwu La Flaga grinned, unfazed by Cagalli's death glare.

"To what do we owe the honor?"

"Oh shut up."

"Cagalli."

"Hmph." At the gentle reproach from Kisaka, or rather the reproachful tone of his voice, she scowled and turned away from making a comeback with great reluctance. Instead, she addressed the slightly embarrassed looking brunette beside him using the 'diplomacy tone' she'd been taught years ago. She completely ignored Ensign Badgerule on the other side.

"Captain Ramius, Orb welcomes you."

Murrue started, surprised at the formal tone, before responding.

"Oh! Yes, of course. As captain of the Earthen Alliance Warship Archangel, I would like to extend thanks to the Orb union for its hospitality."

Cagalli inwardly smirked at the older woman's initial reaction to her mannerism. _What, was she expecting me to just come up and demand to see Kira and the others? I wish. Unfortunately, I need to 'play the princess' for this visit. _

The fiery blonde crossed her arms and leveled a steely glare at the captain.

Recognizing the look from their previous voyage, Murrue smiled slightly and responded accordingly.

"If you would like to look around a bit, just to take stock of the situation of course, I'll get Ensign Yamato to show you the way."

Cagalli's glare softened and a bare glimpse of a smile made its way across her face. "That would be appreciated, thank you."

Murrue bowed her head slightly to hide her smile. "Of course."

* * *

Kira waited on the bridge, pacing in an unconscious mimicry of the captive far below. He was actually moderately happy. His punishment was on hold, Nicol was safe in a cell and didn't hate him, he'd managed to get a note off to him to explain the situation so that was covered, and Cagalli was stopping by. Disregarding everything except that exact moment, he was probably happy for the first time since Heliopolis. Well, no maybe not; there was still one black mark on today's agenda.

Sometime during the day, he'd need to take Cagalli to see his friends because she was friendly with them as well. Normally this would not be a problem but he and Sai were still at odds and Flay loathed Orb's princess with a passion.

_Oh well, best not to dwell on it I guess, especially considering I am indirectly responsible for both situations. Sai's mad because Flay chose me and Flay hates Cagalli because I'm friends with her. Which is kind of strange if not surprising. But that's not the point. The point is that since I caused these problems, I need to stand up to the effects._

"Hey, Ensign Yamato?"

He didn't answer. He didn't even hear the comment.

"Yamato!" a rough had grabbed his arm and gave it a quick shake.

"Ow!" He pushed the offending appendage away, forcing himself not to instinctively break it or toss its owner across the room, and shot the nameless soldier a slightly annoyed look. "Is there something wrong?"

"Just thought you might want to stop the nervous pacing before you burn a hole through the floor panels."

Kira flushed and scowled, not missing the gleam in the man's eyes when he said 'nervous'. It was quite obvious he knew who Kira was waiting for and thought there was something going on between them. How he, a person neither Kira nor Cagalli had ever really met before, knew was no mystery. The entire crew knew about Cagalli and over half of them believed she was having some sort of affair with the coordinator even though the two of them had never even really touched each other.

_Can't they see we're not interested? I mean, I was with Flay when Cagalli was here! And she doesn't even act like a girl! Although she does look like one, especially when she's wearing a dress. _He blushed at the memory of his first time seeing her in a dress. They had been in grave danger in the middle of the Desert Tiger's base. He'd said…_I acted like I didn't even know she was a girl. _His blush deepened with embarrassment. _I shouldn't have said it like that; it didn't come out like I wanted it to. What I meant was that she's my friend regardless of gender and I'd never really…well, let's just say I never reacted to here like I do to Flay._

"Kira! Hey, ya deaf in there?"

"Huh? Oh! Cagalli! Sorry, I was thinking."

The blonde scowled, moving her hands to her hips in a gesture of annoyance. "Too busy to give me a tour?"

"…tour? But you already know…"

Hurt passed in and out of her eyes almost too quickly to catch. She turned away. "Well, if you don't want to take me, I'm sure Captain Ramius will be able to find someone else."

_Whoops. _He caught the look in her eyes and grasped the plan the second after he spoke.

"A tour! Of course, I'm sorry, I misunderstood you."

The princess whirled instantly, relief evident in the absence of her usual belligerent expression. What, had she thought Kira would act different knowing she was a princess? "Great! Kisaka is discussing the technicalities of your stay with the captain right now so if we hurry we can get some time to ourselves!"

"What?"

"Come on!"

Right before being tugged out of the room, the earthen coordinator saw the same soldier from earlier grin and give him a huge wink before turning to his companion to whisper something in his ear. Evidently he'd heard the statement about 'having time to ourselves'.

_I'm never going to hear the end of this one._

* * *

Several hours later,Kira walked quickly down the gloomy hallway to Nicol's cell, smile still on his face from earlier. Sure, he was moderately worried at how Nicol would react to bringing him the paper so late, but his 'tour' with Cagalli had lasted many hours more then either of them had expected. They had avoided the adults most of the time and, contrary to his earlier misgivings, everyone had been completely civil when they came ran into each other.

Miri and Tolle had joked around a bit and tried to engage everyone in conversation, Sai had said hello with a smile before falling into the background to watch Kira, followed quickly by Kuzzey. Sai's gaze had been disconcerting in its confusion (there were so many emotions expressed that even he probably didn't know what he was thinking) but it was far preferable to Flay's hate filled glare. She hadn't said anything, thankfully, but the death rays practically shooting from her eyes spoke for her and eventually drove Cagalli to decide she wanted to re-familiarize herself with the ship accompanied only by her 'tour guide'.

After that, they'd talked about what had happened while the Archangel was away. Kira told her about the fight with the Blitz and the capture and Cagalli, after expressing her annoyance at him for failing to use a weapon right AGAIN (1), told him about life in the nobility and her aching for the freedom of the desert despite its dangers.

He couldn't help but laugh at that.

_Only Cagalli. _ He stopped in front of Nicol's door, weighed down with a large packet of white paper he'd taken from a storeroom and a couple mismatched pens that had been lying around his room. The paper most likely wouldn't be missed but pens were a near rarity since most people used electronic writing implements now. He'd decided to give Nicol a few of his own just to be safe.

"Nicol?"

There was no response. An icy finger of dread trailed up his spine. Had the soldier betrayed his trust and escaped?

"Hey, I'm back. Did you get my message?"

A muffled grunt answered this time and a lump detached itself from the shadows under the bed to unfold and become a tired looking Nicol. "Huh?"

_He was sleeping under the bed? _"I brought you some paper."

"Paper?" For a long moment, the captive blinked fuzzily and yawned before realizing exactly what was happening. When he did, he lost his fatigue in seconds. "Paper!"

Kira cracked a bemused smile. _How can someone get that happy over something so simple? Is he really that bored?_

"Yeah; here, I'll put the pack through the food slot. Can you pass me your dinner tray?"

"Sure." Happy to oblige, Nicol picked up the tray covered with empty dishes and slid it through the unbarred section.

After it was through, his prize slid in and he looked at it in happy disbelief. He stroked the top piece reverently, picking it up and almost touching it to his face before noticing Kira's amused and slightly creeped out expression.

He blushed and replaced the page, setting the stack on his bed.

"Thank you Kira. This means more to me then you'll ever know." He attempted to get his point across with his eyes and was rewarded with a gentle smile.

"No problem."

"So, how was your meeting with the mystery person you mentioned in the note?"

"Pretty good." Nicol didn't miss the avoidance of eye contact or shift of feet. He smirked slightly. "Was the mystery person a she?"

"WHAT?" Violet eyes snapped wide and met smirking crimson. Kira had forgotten how sharp Nicol was. _I only looked away for a second!_

"Well, yes, but we don't like each other that way."

"Heh, alright." Nicol chuckled at the blush. The other boy was just so innocent. Speaking of which…the smile faded.

"I got your message by the way."

Catching a new serious note in the prisoner's voice, Kira pulled back slightly in shame. "Yes, I'm sorry I couldn't get down her sooner, I just-."

"Kira, did you go through a military academy?"

"What?" that had not been what he was expecting at all.

"I'm really grateful that you've been doing all this for me so I feel obligated to do something for you too. Please consider my advice, if you ever send a note again, be discreet. If someone had intercepted and read that, you'd probably join me in here. As a resident of a cell."

"Oh." Kira blanched. He hadn't thought of that. Nicol was right, if Ens. Badgerule had managed to get that note…"Sorry, I didn't even think about that. I guess I just thought nobody would try to take anything from Tori."

Nicol raised an eyebrow and, confident he'd gotten his message across, dropped his serious tone. "Does your pet do stuff for you often?"

Kira laughed, but there was sadness in his eyes as he answered.

"Yeah, I've had it for years."

"You said –before, when I was on the opposite side of the fence last time you guys were in Orb- that a good friend gave it to you. Is that true?"

Kira jolted in surprise. Nicol was there when he'd run into Athrun? Come to think of it, there had been a few people with him; Kira had just been too focused to notice any of them.

"Kira?"

"Yeah." His voice was almost too soft to be heard, even for a coordinator. "Yeah, a dear friend."

_He was then. Now he probably hates me. Personally rather then professionally this time._

"Where is it now? You usually have it with you."

"I left Tori back in my room."

Sensing Kira descending back into his shell, Nicol mentally berated himself and strove to remedy the situation. "Ya know, it reminds me of something. A robotic pet a friend of mine made for his fiancée. It's called a-."

"Haro."

"What?" his eyes grew to saucer size. "H-how did you know that?"

"Lacus had it with her when she was on board."

Nicol remembered that occurrence. Actually, the Strike's odd behavior in handing Lacus over should have tipped him off to Kira's personality. In hindsight, if he had examined any of their encounters with a more open mind or at least more curiosity, he would have understood Kira better sooner.

_No, that can't be. One of us would have noticed him if that was the case. _A connection clicked in his mind. _Wait a minute, Athrun reacted to that situation as if he knew Strike's pilot. And they exchanged words when Kira handed Lacus over! Maybe Athrun did find out; maybe that's how Kira knows him. Or knows of him._

"Nicol, I need to leave. It's very late and pretty soon people are going to become suspicious over my absence."

The prisoner frowned with concern at the dead, almost mechanical way he spoke.

"I understand. Are you alright? I didn't mean to upset you."

"I'm fine. Well, as fine as I've ever been since getting involved. It's not your fault."

Nicol watched him for a moment, puzzled and worried.

_Getting involved in what?_

With a final searching look at his captor's retreating back, he turned towards the paper, preparing to lose himself in the rapture of creating music.

* * *

TBC.

REVIEW!

* * *

This chapter….gah.

I don't like it at all.

It took me forever to start it; I had no idea what to put first. Then I realized if I put everything in the chapter it would make the chapter too long to write and type in one day so I shot down the second half.

Meh, all it means is you guys don't get much information right now.

It'll make for more of a tension element later when you have the facts without the information. XD Then I'll give you the information after that (I am evil hear me roar!)

And since I also shot down the part with Cagalli, if you guys want an installment about her afternoon with Kira, let me know and I'll try to post a one-shot on the side. It just didn't have much of a bearing on the plot how I'd planned it and I didn't have much room or time.

Ummm…another little note is that I made a major typo last chapter.

But it was, for once, a nice, happy typo that shifted the series of events back a day and gave more time for the characters to interact before…dundundunnnnnn… more stuff of a different nature starts to happen.

So, sorry if any of my hints from the previous chapter were wrong, I really didn't plan for this chapter to go this way.

One little word made all the difference.

* * *

(1) She got pissed at him for throwing a gun at someone rather then shooting it when they met the Desert Tiger

* * *

Hope you liked it!

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	13. Deja Vu

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Gundam Seed, the characters, plot, setting, yadda yadda, etc. etc. (I don't even own the manga for crying out loud)

Thanks for the reviews guys! Sorry it's been so long!

* * *

**_Italics_ **means thoughts

**Bold **means….other stuff.

* * *

**Last time:**

_"I'm fine. Well, as fine as I've ever been since getting involved. It's not your fault."_

_Nicol watched him for a moment, puzzled and worried._

Getting involved in what?

_With a final searching look at his captor's retreating back, he turned towards the paper, preparing to lose himself in the rapture of creating music._

* * *

**Chapter 11: Deja Vu**

"WHY are we here again?"

"Cuz somehow our glorious leader-." The sarcasm in Dearka's voice made Yzak's moody frown waver "-figured out what we did the last time we were here and decided that since we 'know the city'-."

"Know the city? We swam in near the facility then followed the indicated road in!"

"Yes, well, apparently that translates into knowing the city."

"Pfeh. Why are we even taking orders from Waltfeld (1)? If the commander (2) was here…"

"Would you two quiet down? We're almost there and we don't want to draw attention." Even though Athrun's voice was calm and he did his best to sound reasonable, his aggressive team mate instantly took offense.

"What are you implying, Zala? That I don't know what I'm doing? That I might screw up and get someone killed?"

The young leader flinched at the implication, unable to meet Yzak's eyes to confront the near accusation.

"No; I was just asking you to keep it down."

_You wouldn't get anyone killed, not like I did. You would have blasted Kira without remorse. Nicol wouldn't have died if you'd been in my place. Nicol...God I wish he were here now. He was the one that kept Yzak sane around me and now that he's gone…_

"Like I'm going to believe-!"

"Cool it man, just…calm down." The blond pilot caught his friend's shoulder gently to distract him.

"What! And let this idiot ignore me?" He sent an enraged look at Athrun's silent form plodding along beside them. "I don't think so!"

"Look, Yzak…you didn't need to say that about death."

The pilot's brow furrowed in confusion. _I didn't need to…Oh. OH! _His eyes widened slightly before returning to their original scowl. _Idiot's still blaming himself for Nicol's death. Unreasonable but Athrun's been acting like that a lot recently. It's almost like he's got something more important on his mind making him inattentive. I wonder if he even noticed how strange our flight down was? So quiet and the crewmen…_

"Hey Dearka?"

"Hm?"

"Did it seem like the crew of The Eternal was avoiding us?"

"Now that you mention it…" Violet eyes blinked uncertainly "Yeah. Waltfeld was always there but the only other people I saw were the ones running the ship."

"And none of them would speak to us."

"It was almost as if they were hiding something."

"I noticed that as well." They both turned to Athrun; surprised and a touch relieved.

_Good thing he's not as distant as he's acting._

"That they were hiding something?"

"Yeah, and on that first tour, I heard a strange sound. I don't…I'm not sure what it was but it wasn't something you'd normally hear on a ship."

He saw both of them shoot him sharp looks in response to the hesitation but there was no way he was going to tell them what the sound reminded him of.

After all; it was impossible.

What would Lacus' Haro be doing on The Eternal?

* * *

Kira was bored. Well…alright, maybe not. He was inactive and relaxed; a rarity on the EA warship. He could count on one hand the number of times he'd truly been at peace since coming onboard. In fact, what with the war, the nightmares caused by the war, Athrun, accidental prejudice, the opinions of his friends, the crew, and fear of both ZAFT and the EA; it was a miracle he wasn't an emotional wreck.

_Well _the earthen coordinator slit open his eyes, allowing them to adjust slowly to the sun. _Not a useless emotional wreck. I do have a bunch of problems but no one notices because they don't hamper my fighting ability._

"Birdie?"

"Mmm…hey Tori."

Kira was unsurprised to see the small robot. Tori had actually been the one to inspire its master to relax outside rather than in his bunk. The bird had chirped and fluttered around the room until Kira got up and followed, still half asleep, to the open rooftop of a maintenance building; one of many surrounding the facility hiding the Archangel.

Under the light of the newly risen sun, the metal was warm and inviting. Without a second thought, Kira; secure in the knowledge that no one would come looking for him here but he was close enough to help if there was an emergency; dozed in and out of sleep.

"Birdie!" Tori fluttered its wings and took to the air, flying circles over Kira as he opened his eyes the rest of the way and stretched.

"Yeah I know. I need to take Nicol his breakfast and get to work on the Strike." He yawned, standing up and holding a hand out for the bird to perch on. "There's always something to do. I just hope I can avoid Ensign Badgerule and Flay for…well, ever."

"Birdie!"

Responding with a laugh, a sound that had become far too scarce as of late, Kira turned to leave. "You'd better get your chirping out now; I doubt the captain will be pleased if you do it inside. You'd wake up the crew and I'm in enough trouble as it is."

"Birdie! Bir-."

The pet stopped mid-chirp.

_I've never heard it do that before._

"Tori, what's wrong?" the bird's head was cocked to the right as if listening and its answering chirp was much lower than normal.

Feeling the sense of peace and relaxation draining away, Strike's pilot slowly, almost reluctantly, turned his head to follow Tori's line of sight. Though his perch was well hidden and the object of scrutiny far away, he could vaguely hear and clearly see what had caught the robot's attention.

Three familiar figures stood at the fence line closest Kira's resting place. He felt a sudden, irrational urge to flee but knew he could not. Doing so would draw attention.

_Who are they? Why are they there? All the workers are still asleep and either inside or at their homes but those three…_ a feeling of dread began to churn in his stomach as déjà vu assaulted him. _This is…exactly like last time except now there are three not four. _The thought comforted him for all of three seconds until he remembered that one of the 'workers' last time had been Nicol and he was now being held captive.

The churning grew stronger.

_It's impossible; it can't be him. I mean, come on! What are the chances of it happening twice? It just can't be him! Those are probably just three early rising workers…except the shifts here are carefully monitored, it being a secret base and all, and Tori wouldn't react to just anyone._

Kira crept silently to the end of the roof and leapt the fifteen feet to the ground without thinking. His instincts were demanding he run and his enhanced genes were obeying.

_But…I need to know. It can't be him; it's impossible. But I still need proof._

Resolved, he edged back until he was in the shadows near the door leading to the Archangel. He could just barely see the trio around the side of a maintenance building. His location was too far away to be seen or heard by naturals but if the three were coordinators - and he was still sticking desperately to his belief that such a thing was utterly impossible - they would hear everything but faint whispers.

_How should I figure out? I suppose I could yell to get their attention; that would probably work but it might put me at risk._

"Birdie!"

Three heads swiveled, three pairs of eyes picked the bird out as it flew overhead.

One pair continued downward until it found the robot's owner.

Emerald met lavender.

Athrun's eyes widened and his mouth opened as if to call out.

Kira fled.

* * *

"That bird looks really familiar."

"I don't think it's a real bird. Can't you hear what it's saying?"

"Sounds like 'birdie birdie'."

"Yeah and I think you're right. I'm positive I've seen it before."

Athrun stood frozen, his locked knees keeping him from collapsing in surprise and horror. Kira was here; that bare glimpse of violet eyes and brown hair was enough to ascertain the fact. He knew he should have guessed but he hadn't even considered thinking about the possibility that they might meet face to face again.

_I should have. It happened before; I just never…Everything's changed for me and I didn't consider that it might not have for other people. Kira looks exactly the same and this is exactly how this scene would have played out if Nicol was still alive._

He clenched his fists, trying to find the dedication and anger he'd drummed up while clearing Nicol's music out and the desolation in the older Amarfis' eyes when he'd told them about their son's death.

It didn't work; his mind kept returning to the fearful gaze Kira had shot at him before bolting. And that was another thing.

"He ran. Why did he run?"

"Eh?" Dearka glanced at him quizzically "Who ran?"

"Nobody. I was just thinking." A disgusted snort from Yzak answered him.

"Okay then…what do you think about the bird thing? Both me and Yzak think it looks really familiar."

"Of course it does."

They both fell silent expectantly and he raised an eyebrow.

"You don't remember?"

"Just tell us, Zala!"

"Last time we were here, To-the bird flew out of the compound and landed on me. K-some kid followed it. I passed the robot back through the fence to him."

"Oh yeah!" the blonde nodded, trying to remember. The event had mostly involved Athrun so he was the only one who knew the details about it "Wait, does that mean the kid's a soldier?"

Athrun went stiff as a board but it was Yzak who responded.

"How do you figure?"

"Well, this place is officially abandoned, that's why the Legged ship can be housed here, so doesn't it seem a bit suspicious that we've seen the same bird both times we've been here?"

Catching on, Yzak nodded. "It means that, by relation, the bird's owner is here when the Legged ship is."

"So he's either a resident of the ship or someone from Orb working on it."

Both of them turned to a conspicuously quiet Athrun, waiting for his opinion.

Several long moments went by without an answer until Yzak got impatient.

"Well? Zala, what do you think?"

"I think…" he drew the words out, as if reluctant to pronounce sentence on the unknown natural boy. "We should stick around for a little while. Reconnoiter before we act."

Dearka nodded amiably but Yzak glowered before turning on his heel.

Something was affecting Athrun, he'd known it for a while, and now he had a face to put with one aspect of the issue.

The boy with the bird.

* * *

If Kira got a few strange looks when he came staggering back into the Archangel looking shell-shocked, he didn't notice. The thoughts bouncing through his head were going a mile a minute.

_Athrun's here?_

_Well, not HERE here but close._

_What should I do?_

_I'm already on thin ice, this is all they're going to need to condemn me._

_Should I tell the captain and the lieutenant?_

_Am I going to tell Nicol?_

The last thought made him stop in his tracks. He'd temporarily forgotten about the prisoner. Whether or not he decided to tell about their mutual acquaintance (he wasn't sure what Athrun thought of him right now), he still had to give Nicol breakfast.

"Hey kid!"

_Huh?_ "Lt. La Flaga?"

"Yep! How's it going?" the older man smirked but there was a seriousness to his eyes and posture that put Kira on edge.

_Does he know about Athrun? _Úmm…okay, I guess. You?"

"Just great! However –don't look at me like that kid, you know there's always a but- late last night, we were contacted about a ship sighting nearby."

"A ship sighting?" _Okay…_

"The fisherman who saw it claimed it looked like a giant spaceship and that it vanished into thin air right after he got a glimpse."

"ZAFT sir?"

"Might be. Or the guy might have been drunk, but either way I'd like you to keep an eye out for anyone you don't recognize, alright?"

He nodded in all seriousness. "Yessir."

"Good. Seeya later kid!" with a friendly wave and a clap on the shoulder, the blonde man left.

Making his way to the mess hall was easier than normal; it was still too early (going by shore leave scheduling) for his friends and most of the crew to be awake. He noted it vaguely but his mind was focused on the Lieutenant's news and on what he was going to tell the prisoner.

As he got closer to the brig, the conflict within worsened.

_Do I tell him? But if I do, won't I need to explain how I know Athrun? What about the ship? What if it's here to rescue him? _Bizarrely, the topic that caught his attention as he reached the cell was totally unrelated.

_I wonder what happened to Tori?_

"Mph. Kira? S'at you?"

One look at the sleep disheveled youth surrounded by paper and holding a pen in his mouth was all it took to convince Kira of the right thing to do.

"Nicol, we need to talk."

The coordinator watched his captor with surprise. This didn't sound like the Kira he knew.

_Of course, I've only known him a couple of days, so…_

"About what?"

He began to collect the scattered papers, about half of which were now covered in composition, as Kira pushed the breakfast tray through the slot.

_Breakfast, lunch, and dinner. They sure treat prisoners well._

"About Athrun."

* * *

TBC.

REVIEW!

* * *

Development! Finally!

I have been waiting so frickin' long for this scene to happen. I'm still waiting for the next few chapters to get themselves over with so I can move on to a sequence I've been waiting for! After that it's pretty iffy; I only have the skeleton of what I want.

Oh, and my original estimate was wrong. There are still quite a few chapters to go; too many for me to foretell at the moment.

I'm also not sure how my writing's doing; I feel for some reason like my skills are decreasing.

-.-

Umm….

That's it

* * *

Hope you liked it!

PM/replies are forthcoming to all who review!

Not to mention, you get a free preview summary of the next chapter! (Only if you're signed in though, same goes with the reply)

(1) They call him by his name rather than position because they don't respect him as much as they do La Creuset (you'll notice they call him Commander) both because they have history with him and because they don't know him well.

(2) Check the explanations from chapter 7.

* * *

Thank you for the reviews:

**Mew Tatsu, Maryam Khanoom, Dreamer516, RainPure, Besjer, Freedom-Fighter05, Karone-sakura Gummybear123, Silvermane1, Scubyslacker, TheBetanWerecat, Iced tears, Speaker4thesilent, Miss Peeps, Warp Ligia Obscura, R, Orahiko, Slightly Sinister Sinestra, SpiritsMelding, ArtgirlChan, Cin, Lilviki, Cannibalistic Gummy-Bear, Darkmoon Fleur, Nariko, Yzak Lover Extrodinaire, NoshMono, X-19A Infinite Justice, Sunny-rain, Jessica, Seedsofwar, FanfictionWriter83729, Karina, xiaoj**


	14. Rest

**Title: **Nicol's New Fate (Status)**  
Author: **Darkling59**  
Rating: **PG or K+ (pretty tame)**  
Fandom: **Gundam Seed**  
Summary: **Tori looks out for its master and his friends, more so than even Kira knows**  
Date: **10/24/08**  
Warnings: **AU, confusion…er…lack of updates…yeah…**  
Disclaimer:** Gundam Seed and related characters, words, etc. don't belong to me. The story does. Don't steal.**  
Author's Notes: **I'm not dead! I promise!

I'm so sorry it has taken so long to get something up; my anime inspiration has pretty much dried up. If no one is still watching this story, I totally understand.

Unfortunately, I don't think I'll be updating seriously any time soon either. I WILL finish this story. I like it and I'm dedicated but time is in short supply at the moment; it might be in short supply for another few years. But I won't permanently discontinue it so long as I am still able to write. I posted this chapter as sort of a status update for any readers. I'm also putting up a Halloween story that's about three years old (yeah, I know it's pathetic but I wrote it in November and I've forgotten about it at Halloween every year after), and an interlude in Oddity, both with about the same message. I might get one up for Experiment but I don't have it now so, if I do, it won't be this weekend.

I hope you enjoy this little interlude; it doesn't have any bearing on the story, it actually back tracks a bit, but it's what my midterm-fogged brain came up with.

--

The gentle clicking of metallic wings echoes through the halls of the Archangel, lending a sense of urgency and liveliness to the otherwise empty grey corridors. No military vessel is ever fully dormant during a sleep cycle but very few of the on duty officers spend their time roaming the halls.

Wings beat the air quickly as the small metallic form darts around a corner, soaring over the heads of two half asleep guards posted outside the heavy door leading to the brig. Ignoring the door, Tori arches higher then folds its wings and drops into a small ventilation port. The scratching of its claws on metal is unmistakable to anyone with even a passing knowledge of the creature.

On reaching the other end of the vent, Tori takes to the air again, chirping loudly as it soars between the darkened cells. It is necessary to flap even more in here; the ventilation is not as strong as it is in the more frequently traveled hallways. Three quarters of the way down, in the only occupied cell, the small bird reaches its destination.

It attempts to circle in order to draw the prisoner's attention but the lack of airflow makes the procedure next to impossible. Instead, Tori lands on the floor and hops forward, chirping and scratching its claws on the floor. Nicol does not respond beyond sighing quietly in his sleep. When the bird hops up onto his stomach, he mumbles slightly and rolls over.

This dislodges the bird who takes off with an indignant sounding squawk, a surprisingly lifelike reaction from a lifeless animal.

Convinced that Nicol is not going to wake up any time soon and as such will not be paying attention, Tori hops out of the cell and once again takes to the air. It has to flap with great effort to gain altitude but by the time the door is in range, the bird has gained enough height to make it through the port.

The sleeping guards don't notice it now, thankfully. Tori is not programmed with enough higher level intelligence to assist the enemy of its own free will but that is not an explanation the guards would accept.

If that happened, its owner be saddened by its destruction but, more importantly, he would probably be thrown in the cells and sentenced to death under charges of sabotage.

Unconscious to the potential danger of its actions, Tori once again flaps its wings and soars down the nearest corridor, this time retracing its former path.

Seven corridors and three floors up, the mechanical animal reaches its next destination, a door seemingly like any other. This time, unlike with the prisoner, when Tori scratches and chirps at the door there is a reaction. It opens a crack, displaying an exhausted but expectant violet eye. At the sight of his pet, Kira smiles in relief and opens the door another couple inches to allow it inside.

Tori settles onto Kira's shoulder, chirping and running its beak through his hair as if it were a real bird. The boy smiles gently, an expression that lights up his face and seems to banish some of the shadows from his eyes. He brings up a gentle hand to stroke Tori's metal feathers, then sets his pet on the bedside table and tells it to power down.

He vaguely wonders where Tori was tonight but knows better than to try to figure out. If it was getting in trouble than retracing its steps through the security system will cause more trouble than its worth.

He knows this for certain because he tried it once before and got in trouble with Ensign Badgerule for monitoring the system and for letting Tori out of the Archangel without permission even though he hadn't allowed it to do anything. His weak protest that the bird just wanted to stretch its wings didn't help all that much either.

With a loud yawn, Kira turned out the light and settled down on the bed. He doesn't bother to change his clothes. He has to be up in a few hours anyways; what would be the point of getting ready for a long sleep? A few hours will still be welcome though.

As he drifts off to sleep, Kira's mind drifts towards Nicol and Athrun and what he's going to do. He ponders it seriously for about thirty seconds then decides to deal with it tomorrow, when he's more aware and able to actually do something about it.

Yes, tomorrow is a good idea.

--

Thanks to everyone who reviewed!

I'll send out summaries for the next real chapter (since this one is just a place holder and update, there isn't really any point to sending one out for it)


	15. Remnants of the Past

**Title: **Nicol's New Fate- Chapter 12 (or 13, if you count Tori's interlude as a chapter. I don't.)  
**Author: **Darkling  
**Rating: **PG or K+ (pretty tame)  
**Fandom: **Gundam Seed  
**Summary: **The (VERY) long awaited conversation in which Nicol learns more than he ever wanted to about the ramifications of battle. He also figures out that he doesn't know as much as he thought he did about Athrun or Kira. Nothing is ever black and white, least of all war.  
**Date: **9/27/2012  
**Warnings: **AU, angst. (Seriously, even Nicol turned angsty in this fic), GSD does not exist here  
**Disclaimer:** Gundam Seed and related characters, words, etc. don't belong to me. The story does. Don't steal.

**Author's Notes: **Sorry for the long wait, everyone (Has it really been **four years**?). I seriously doubt anyone is still watching this story but I've temporarily caught the anime bug, so I'm trying to update while I have inspiration. I cannot believe it's been **seven years **since I started this, and I still haven't finished it.

Fair warning: the way I write has changed in the interim so the style will be somewhat different. Hopefully, I'll be able to redo the previous chapters at some point so that the style is continuous but I'd rather write the entire story before doing that (if it happens). I am planning to keep the original plot, though. This chapter will probably be a bit choppy because I wrote some scenes three years ago and others just a couple days ago.

Thank you so much to those of you who have reviewed this story! Every time I get a review, even so far after a story's original publish date, it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy and inspires me to think about the story line and what I have planned for it. It was actually a recent review that inspired me to write this chapter.

So…thanks again, reviewers! This one is for you!

(Also, I'm sorry I didn't get a chapter summary out but I think they've been banned by ffnet. This time, I'll respond to reviews quickly but won't be able to give you any info on the next chapter.)

* * *

**Last time:**

_"Nicol, we need to talk."_

_"About what?"_

_"About Athrun."_

* * *

**Chapter 12: Remnants of the Past**

Nicol froze. Of all the things he might have expected Kira to say, that was NOT one of them. The other boy seemed nervous and fidgety, but determined. What had happened since last night?

Slowly, the young coordinator sat down and looked up at Kira, mind moving a mile a minute. Breakfast, and surprisingly humane treatment of prisoners, was instantly forgotten. This was his chance to answer a multitude of questions that had been seething at the back of his mind ever since he first met Kira, but he would have to move carefully lest the other boy run away again.

Kira shifted awkwardly, resting his right hand on the back of his neck and refusing to meet Nicol's eyes; his gaze kept darting down the hallway towards the door.

Nicol would have to be very careful indeed.

"I thought you didn't want to talk about that." He kept his voice carefully neutral and nonthreatening.

Kira shook his head and shuffled a few steps away, then back. The jerky movements quickly became pacing. After about five minutes he shook his head again and planted his feet squarely so that he was facing Nicol. Then he sat on the floor to be at the same eye level.

"I…don't."

Nicol cocked his head questioningly and Kira let out a long breath.

"I don't want to talk about it. I…it's been a long time. And it's…" For a moment, his gaze became distant and unfocused, as if seeing memories rather than reality. Whatever he saw made him frown and close his eyes.

"It's painful to remember. Especially now."

He drew his knees to his chest and hugged them.

"After…after the…after I…the battle…" He shot Nicol another anxious look which the younger boy, who was becoming increasingly confused by the entire conversation, easily understood.

"After you captured me." He nodded encouragingly. Kira flinched but nodded slowly.

"Since then, I'm sure Athrun hates me." Nicol's eyes widened in shock, both at the words and the tone. Kira sounded truly hurt by the thought.

"Why?" Nicol blurted out, unable to stop himself. Kira shot him an incredulous look and Nicol quickly clarified. "Why would you care what Athrun thinks? I mean, how do you even know him? I've analyzed every possibility I could think of and none of them seem to make sense!"

When Kira simply blinked at him silently, looking shell shocked, Nicol blushed with embarrassment. He hadn't really meant to do that because it was obviously a sensitive subject to the Earthen coordinator, but he hadn't been able to stop himself. It was just too confusing!

"You…thought about it?" Kira's voice was even quieter than normal, with distrust creeping into his tone. "How did you know we're connected?"

Uh-oh.

"…Was it a secret?" at Kira's suspicious nod, Nicol visibly winced.

"When I…escaped…I overheard a lot of people talking. Some teenagers in one of the cabins mentioned you had a friend in ZAFT." The suspicious look softened slightly. Encouraged, Nicol continued. "Also, you pretty much told me yourself."

"I _what?_"

"You did! When I asked if the Aegis was okay, you told me Athrun was fine. You knew his name, his mobile suit, and everything."

"Oh. Right." Kira picked at his sleeve sheepishly. "I forgot about that."

Nicol nodded.

"I guess I'm not as sneaky as I think I am, sometimes." He chuckled weakly but the sound died in his throat.

"Right, so, the reason I know Athrun is because…well, I've always known him." Kira shrugged at Nicol's confused look. "It's true. When we…when _I _was little I lived in a lunar colony. Athrun lived there too, for a time. We…" his voice broke slightly "we were best friends."

Nicol's breath caught in his throat and his eyes went wide as saucers. He'd never known much about Athrun's past, beyond his mother's death and his father's political position. Of course he had once been a little boy but…he wasn't originally from the Plants?

Kira looked unnerved at Nicol's silence but plowed onwards.

"We were inseparable, you know." A sad smile chased across his face, there and gone almost too fast to see. "Athrun's parents were absent, mostly. And mine were always working. For years, we were all each other had. But…then his Dad called him back to the Plants, and I moved to Heliopolis."

Nicol winced at the name but Kira didn't seem to notice; he was too lost in memories to care.

"Then Junius 7 happened." It was surprising and sad how resigned Kira seemed to become after that. "The war started. I didn't hear from Athrun again until Heliopolis when I…we…" He faltered and seemed to have to think about his words.

Nicol was totally gobsmacked. Of all of the scenarios he'd thought up, and he'd conjured some pretty wild ones, none came close to the sheer improbability of the story Kira was telling.

"How-" his voice cracked slightly and he had to clear his throat before continuing. "How did you know it was Athrun in the Aegis? Was it when Lacus-?"

"What? No! Oh, no." Kira seemed amused and almost embarrassed. "We figured it out long before then. Before I got in the Strike, actually." His mouth twisted into a bitter smirk. "I found him trying to kill the captain while she was down with a bullet in her arm."

Nicol stared in horror. Kira's storytelling had taken on a robotic, disconnected undertone.

"When he saw me, he hesitated and the captain shot at him, forcing him into the Aegis. Then she pushed me into the Strike to save me from the ZAFT soldiers."

Nicol had begun to shake slightly, in realization that he would recognize the story from here on out and that he would definitely not be cast as a hero. Kira was so caught up in the horrors of his past, memories he relived every night along with the deaths of those he had killed and those he had failed to save, that he didn't notice.

"I had to take control of the Strike to save my friends when one of the Ginns nearly crushed them. After that…well, you know the story. No one else could pilot the Strike and there were hundreds of Heliopolis civilians on board. Athrun and I have fought over our allegiances during nearly every battle but…I have to protect my friends and he is the one trying to kill them."

Kira looked down, blinking as he emerged from his nightmares. He shot Nicol a tired look.

"Does that answer your question?"

"I…" he was full out trembling now. "Kira…I'm sorry. _So sorry._"

Kira blinked in surprise. "What?"

"Heliopolis. We never…I never…You should never have been forced into this. This is all my…_our…_ fault. You're just…You're not even a soldier!"

"I am now." Kira took in Nicol's truly repentant expression and smiled sadly. "Nicol, it's fine. It isn't your fault. I might not like it, but I chose to be a soldier and as long as I can protect the people I care about, I'm going to continue doing what I'm doing."

"I…" Nicol just shook his head and slumped forward, totally speechless. It was quite a story and, unfortunately, totally believable. Why hadn't they considered that there might be some coordinators living in a neutral colony? Why had they attacked the colony at all, instead of the courier ships? Why...why any of it?

Both boys lapsed into silence, Kira staring off into the distance and his memories while Nicol tried to deal with the sudden revelations.

"Birdie!" Nicol watched the mechanical bird land next to Kira, who seemed to take no notice of it. He was probably used to its antics.

"Did Athrun give it to you?"

"Huh?" Kira snapped back to reality and Nicol nodded at the bird.

"It reminds me of Lacus's Haros. Did he-?"

"Oh. Yeah." Kira smiled, an expression Nicol had never seen on him before. "He gave it to me the last time we saw each other, when he was leaving the colony. I've had it ever since."

"You still care about him, don't you?" It was somehow tragic and understandable. And it made so many of Athrun's recent decisions make sense. He still cared about Kira.

Kira shrugged. "Sometimes I think I do. Sometimes…sometimes I remember that ZAFT destroyed my home and tries to kill me regularly. Sometimes I remember how many people ZAFT has killed."

"The EA is worse than ZAFT, Kira. You do know what they've done, don't you? How many people _they've _killed? They started the war!"

"And they say ZAFT did. I don't know who started it and I don't really care. I just want to protect the people I care about. Do you really think that's a bad thing?"

"I…" What could he say to that?

"Birdie!"

"Tori, shhhh."

"Birdie! Birdie!" they watched the creature hop in place then take off down the passage for a moment. It stopped halfway down and looked back at Kira, obviously expecting him to follow.

"Right! I forgot about that." Kira levered himself to his feet, stretching his legs out. Nicol looked up at him uncomprehendingly. For a moment, he'd forgotten where they were.

"Nicol, the reason I told you all this is because…well, because I saw Athrun today."

"You WHAT!? HOW?"

Kira shuffled his feet sheepishly.

"Do you remember how you snuck into Orb the last time, as workers?" Nicol nodded mutely. "Well, I was outside this morning and Athrun was in the same spot with the same two other boys."

"Dearka and Yzak." Nicol corrected automatically, mind spinning. His teammates were HERE? In Orb? Frantic thoughts and schemes of rescue started to form in his mind. If he had help on the outside then maybe…Kira might help, he could…his thoughts ground to a halt. Kira might have a deep connection to Athrun, but he was still an EA soldier and didn't have any intention of defecting. Chances were he _wouldn't _help. At least, not directly.

"Kira…"

"Nicol, I can't let you go." The ZAFT soldier wilted slightly at the note of finality in Kira's voice.

"I don't…I know you can't let me go. I wouldn't ask you to. I've gotten you into enough trouble as it is." He paused, contemplating how to frame his next request. "But…could you let them know I'm okay somehow?"

Kira eyed him warily.

"How?"

Nicol blinked. That had been easier than he'd thought. He felt bad for taking advantage of the naïve civilian– and he would always be a civilian to Nicol, now. No matter what he did in combat, Kira just didn't think like a soldier – but Nicol _had _to escape. His friends and family thought he was _dead_. He chose not to think about the fighting and killing. He also purposely didn't think about what could happen to Kira.

"Could you…pass on a message?" He tried to look as harmless and imploring as possible but it didn't work. After a flicker of betrayal, Kira's expression closed and he backed away from the bars.

"I'm not helping you pass messages to ZAFT."

"No! No, that's not what I meant." He was desperate to keep Kira from leaving. Rescue, or at least a connection to the outside world, was so close…! "Please…I just want them to know I'm alive. Pictures, paper, evidence…I don't care what. I don't even have to write it. Just…please!"

He could tell Kira was softening but still unsure. At least he wasn't running away this time.

"Nicol, I _can't…_"

"I'm not asking you to let me go, or to give them any information." He made sure to keep his voice as steady and reasonable as possible. Unfortunately, his emotions made it wobble alarmingly, but Kira either didn't notice or didn't care. "I just…they think I'm _dead_, Kira. My family, my team, my friends, Athrun…"

Kira flinched, averting his eyes.

"PLEASE, Kira."

The brunette took a deep breathe, closing his eyes for a long moment as he thought. No matter how much he cared for Athrun or enjoyed Nicol's company, he was still an EA soldier and he **would not **help the enemy. Still…what harm could it do? If he made sure not to send out anything classified, would it matter if he told Athrun that Nicol was alive? The only information that would impart was that the Archangel was present, and ZAFT, or at least Athrun, already knew that.

It couldn't hurt anyone, right? And if he told Athrun…then maybe he wouldn't hate Kira quite so much. It was selfish, Kira knew that, but he couldn't get past seeing Athrun as his friend and he really didn't want them to be real enemies. Not that their current enmity was _fake_, by any means, but their hearts weren't in it.

Decision made, but still unsatisfied, Kira grimaced slightly and nodded at Nicol.

"A photograph. No information, or communication, or…anything. Just one picture to let them know you're alive."

"_Thank you." _Nicol sagged against the bars in relief, once again thanking his lucky stars that he'd met Kira. If he hadn't, he'd be considerably worse off (and probably dead).

"I'll get a camera."

As the other coordinator walk away, shoulders hunched to reflect his inner turmoil, Nicol could only hope that this wouldn't come back to bite either of them. And that it wouldn't damage the fragile friendship that had just begun to develop.

* * *

Twenty minutes later, Kira was standing at the very outskirts of the facility, concealed from prying eyes by two tall buildings and an overhang. There wasn't any surveillance to worry about; in the interests of staying secret, the number of recording devices was kept to a minimum and those were focused on entrances, exits, and the Archangel itself. If Kira did this, no one would know unless they were actually present.

The young coordinator was terrified.

His hands were sweaty and trembling and he couldn't seem to make his eyes focus; he kept expecting to turn around and find Ensign Badgerule glaring at him. Not that there was anything _wrong _with what he was doing…the picture he'd taken of Nicol was totally generic; just a snapshot of him sitting in his cell and smiling weakly at the camera with a timestamp along the bottom. There was no digital component, nothing that even a coordinator could pull extra data out of.

So why did this feel so wrong? He should have told the captain or at least the lieutenant…they would give him the go ahead, if it really was the right thing to do.

But if he told them _that_, then he'd have to explain about Athrun and his connection to ZAFT. Kira knew that such a conversation would not work in his favor; his allegiances were already in question due to his (lack of) actions in securing Nicol and his status as a coordinator. Telling anyone about his past could be the final straw, and end with him in the brig alongside Nicol.

No; he definitely couldn't tell anyone.

"What do you think, Tori?" he mumbled worriedly, gaze darting around. "Are we safe?"

"Birdie?"

He chuckled nervously and took one final look at the single, tightly rolled piece of paper, the picture that could destroy everything…or rebuild a long-lost friendship.

"I promised Nicol." He reminded himself. Tori hopped onto his wrist, cocking its head to meet his eyes. Kira didn't notice. "And Athrun…Athrun would thank me."

It was that last thought that finally cemented his decision.

"Here, Tori." He took the bird gently in his hand and offered it the small roll of paper, making sure the robot was gripping it securely in its claws before he let go. Tori hopped around, fluttering to adapt to the new weight, then looked up at him.

"Birdie?"

The young coordinator took a deep, calming breath, closing his eyes as he let it out. His resolve hardened, and when his eyes opened they were no longer distressed or uncertain.

"Give that to Athrun and then come back."

With a final chirp, the little creature took wing. Kira watched until the flashing of its body was lost in the shine of the morning sun. Then he settled back to wait.

* * *

The ZAFT soldiers had not gone far since Kira's retreat. In fact, they'd set up shop about 50 meters back down the road, inside a seemingly abandoned warehouse. There was no way to observe the facility from the outside, and they didn't have enough information about the interior to risk trespassing. Therefore, they were observing the main entrance to see if they could figure out where the surveillance devices were and to get any physical evidence of the Legged Ship's presence. Inordinate amounts of supplies or workers, discrepancies between what went in and what came out, specialized equipment…they would report anything out of the ordinary.

Despite their concealment, it didn't take long for Tori to find Athrun.

The young coordinator had been preoccupied ever since he'd sighted Kira. He knew the mission was important, and that he should be paying more attention, but he just couldn't get Kira's look of fear out of his head. Even in Heliopolis, after Kira had seen him holding a knife to a helpless woman, the other boy had not fled in fear.

He knew Dearka and Yzak were trying to puzzle out his odd behavior, but was too shaken to fall back into his familiar soldier persona.

In his distracted state, he didn't even notice the little visitor until it made itself known.

"Birdie!"

"Again?!" Yzak snarled, stomping over. Dearka peered over his shoulder in puzzlement.

"Y'know, Athrun, I think that thing's stalking you." The blonde sounded more bemused than annoyed.

"Um…" How could he respond to that?

Athrun extended his hand to the robot and furrowed his brow in confusion when it flapped its wings and chirped but did not jump on.

"Is it carrying something?" Dearka leaned closer curiously, trying to get a good look. The bird fluttered away and Athrun got a good look at its burden: a tightly rolled piece of paper about the size of a standard business card. What was Kira up to? Had he sent Athrun a message? What could possibly be important enough for Kira to risk sending him anything, even a piece of paper?

Gingerly, Athrun took the paper from Tori's grasp. He would have liked to do this away from the prying eyes of his teammates, but that just wasn't possible at this point. Hopefully, Kira had restrained himself from saying anything incriminating or personal.

With great trepidation, he unrolled the paper.

And instantly _stopped breathing_.

It was _Nicol._ The young coordinator was in a prison cell, surrounded by stacks of paper, but appeared relatively unscathed. He looked fantastic for someone who was supposed to be **dead**. The time stamp at the bottom of the picture indicated that it had been taken less than 30 minutes ago.

Alive.

Nicol was ALIVE!

He didn't notice when he collapsed into a sitting position, still staring at the picture in his now-trembling hands. It was as if shock had wiped out everything other than the tiny photo in front of him: all he could hear was a low, static-y drone, all he could see was the picture, and his limbs felt like they were made of rubber.

Thanks to the shock, it is, perhaps, excusable that he did not hear the twin gasps of his teammates or Tori's quiet chirp as it took off.

However, it wouldn't take long before he would regret ignoring Yzak's reaction to the photograph…and the scarred boy's pursuit of the retreating robot.

* * *

The naturals _were _here, and they were holding Nicol captive! Nicol wasn't dead, he was a prisoner, and ZAFT hadn't even known! Those barbaric monsters had had him for far too long...what had they done to him?! With Athrun out of commission from shock, it was up to Yzak to find their missing teammate.

Face twisted into a snarl, Yzak poured on every coordinator-enhanced turn of speed and agility that he could, even as calculations of angles, velocities, and possible destinations chased themselves across his mind. It took everything he had to keep the tiny flying thing in sight, especially since it was as graceful as a real bird and the sun shining off its wings was alternately blinding and camouflaging, but he managed. Dearka was following at a less breakneck pace, but Yzak ignored him.

Lost in his obsessive goal, he barely noticed jumping the fence of the facility they were supposed to be observing, or sprinting swiftly over and around buildings. When Tori finally dove, he was ready for it.

In a final turn of speed, he dodged around the last building and into a hidden alleyway, far from prying Orb and Natural eyes. The boy from before, the one with brown hair (an EA soldier; he _had _to be!) was at the other end with the bird perched on his wrist and his back to Yzak.

The silver haired boy took it all in as he moved; he didn't even slow down as he darted the length of the building and sprung off one of the walls, lending himself just enough height to come down directly over the other soldier's head with a brutal double handed punch. With rage, momentum, and the element of surprise lending him strength, there was enough force behind the blow to kill a natural or seriously incapacitate a coordinator.

Kira didn't stand a chance.

* * *

TBC

Reviews are loved!

* * *

I know, I know…I'm evil. XD

I'm **really **sorry about the cliffhanger, but this was always going to happen. From the very beginning, I intended to make this the transition between 'part 1' and 'part 2' ('the friendly enemy' vs. ' the enemy friend'). I think there are about five chapters after this one. Unfortunately, I can't tell you when they will be up because they all include characters I haven't thought about, let alone written, in about five years. I'll need to watch the anime again to figure out how to write them, and I have no idea when I'll have time for that. I will, however, try to go back and fix some of the formatting errors in previous chapters (it's come to my attention that ffnet seriously screwed the line breaks) and remove old, now invalid news.

If you've been keeping up on my profile updates, those last three scenes (Kira's introspection, Athrun's realization, Yzak's rage) were the ones I was having trouble with. But I NEEDED to get through Yzak's attack to get the story where I wanted it to be.

Thank you to my reviewers: **karone-sakura, Ssatsuki, Helen Star, callmenever, otakuheaven123123, Akatsuki Leader13, lovegundamgirl37, Angel-chan, nequam-tenshi, Azora Grenfield, LittleBlueNayru, Evci, Halva,KafeiDetour, Apparocks, 107602, **and **Shinju Angel.**

You guys are awesome!

(If you want me to respond to your review, but don't have an ffnet account, you'll need to find a creative way to enter your email address, otherwise the system cuts out the email and I have no way to contact you. Sorry Azora.)


	16. The Enemy Friend

**Title: **Nicol's New Fate  
**Author: **darkling59  
**Rating: **PG or K+ (pretty tame)  
**Fandom: **Gundam Seed  
**Date: **5/10/2013  
**Summary: **The ramifications of Yzak's attack turn out to be far more troublesome and widespread than he had anticipated.  
**Warnings: **AU, angst. (Seriously, even Nicol turned angsty in this fic), GSD does not exist here  
**Disclaimer:** Gundam Seed and related characters, words, etc. don't belong to me. The story does. Don't steal.

* * *

**Pre-Chapter Author's Notes: **Well, the wait wasn't as long as last time! That's a plus, I think.

Some of you (who have me on author alert) might have noticed that I've been writing for Bleach a lot recently. I assure you, this does NOT mean I have abandoned Gundam Seed. I still have every intention of finishing NNF.

I'm not sure when the next update will be. Important RL Changes happen in 3-4 months, so it's possible there will be another long hiatus on ALL of my stories at that point (think 2-5 YEARS), but I'm trying to get as much writing in beforehand as I can.

No more fic news! It hasn't been long enough for anything else…

Thanks to everyone who reviewed! I was absolutely amazed that so many people were still watching this fic, and your warm reception is what got me to update so soon. :) (Special thanks to Miss Peeps, who sought out inspirational material for me!)

I hope you like the chapter!

* * *

**Last time:**

_Yzak took it all in as he moved; he didn't even slow down as he darted the length of the building and sprung off one of the walls, lending himself just enough height to come down directly over the other soldier's head with a brutal double handed punch. With rage, momentum, and the element of surprise lending him strength, there was enough force behind the blow to kill a natural or seriously incapacitate a coordinator._

_Kira didn't stand a chance._

* * *

**Chapter 13: The Enemy Friend**

The high-pitched trill of a communicator finally jerked Athrun out of his trance-like state. He blinked rapidly and looked away from the picture of Nicol, noticing for the first time that Yzak and Dearka were missing. Confused, he pulled the Comm out of his pocket and answered.

"Hello?"

"Athrun? Where _are _you?!"

"Dearka? What's wrong?"

"I called two other times and you didn't answer!"

"I-."

"Look, never mind. We need your help."

Immediately, Athrun's eyes sharped and his mind snapped to attention as he fell into 'soldier mode'. These were his people, and it was his responsibility to take care of them. When he spoke, his words were clear and crisp.

"Where are you? Are you injured?"

"Nah, nothing like that. It's…uh…Ya know what? Why don't we meet you back at the ship?"

Evasion, especially from these two, was a very _bad _sign.

"Dearka, What did you do?"

"Nothing!"

"…What did _Yzak _do?"

"You'll see when we get back."

"Dearka!" He snapped, in the practiced 'command' voice he'd learned from his father and honed under La Creuset. It didn't work as well for him as it did for them, but Dearka knew better than to ignore it.

"…He caught one of the Natural soldiers. The one with the bird."

Athrun froze, blood draining from his face, and for a minute he could only gape. But only for a minute.

"He. Did. WHAT?!"

* * *

Kira awoke to a throbbing headache and the smell of coffee. Disoriented, he tried to open his eyes but slammed them closed when the bright light triggered a piercing stab of pain in his head and his stomach lurched in protest. His resulting groan was more of a pitiful whine, and he bent his head forward, trying to lessen the pain and nausea.

"Back with us?"

The voice was familiar, but Kira was too preoccupied to acknowledge it. For some reason, despite his being unable to match a face to the presence, a thread of unease shivered down his spine.

"Who…?"

"Aw, I'm hurt you don't remember me! Why don't you open your eyes and see?"

The very thought of doing so prompted a miserable groan and another duck of his head. He tried to bring a hand up to pinch the bridge of his nose and draw his attention from his stomach, but was met with a dull, tingling pain when he moved his right wrist. His other hand responded in kind.

The thread of unease was quickly turning into an insistent nudge at the back of his mind, telling him this was not a good position to be in. He needed to be up and on his guard, ready to respond properly if something went wrong.

With his head still bowed, Kira slowly squinted his eyes open, wary of the light. There was still a trip-hammer in the back of his skull but it seemed he'd regained control of his stomach. His mild pleasure at the realization was instantly forgotten when he focused on his non-responsive hands and realized they were _tied down_.

(Maybe waking up in a seated position should have been a clue, but these days he slept upright in the Strike's cockpit more often than not.)

He clenched his hands into fists, feeling the pins and needles prickle of the ropes around his wrists cutting off circulation. They were secure (even for a coordinator), but not painfully tight, and the discomfort was minor.

"Feeling better?"

Now fully awake and able to match the voice to a face, confusion and horror warred for attention in his mind, even though he hadn't looked up yet: '_That's not possible; he's dead!'_ followed quickly by '_That means I didn't kill him! Oh, thanks God…'_ and '_He's a ZAFT officer. What happened? Where am I?'_

"That was a nasty knock on the head you took." There was a metallic creak of chair movement a meter away. "But you're a coordinator; you can take it."

Trapped in his disbelief, wavering between '_This is impossible!' _and '_Ohshitohshitohshit- what sort of trouble am I in __**now**__?', _Kira didn't answer or move.

A 'clink' of spoon on cup was followed by the sound of something pouring and an increase in the already strong coffee smell. Used to the clean, almost sterile non-scent of the Archangel and the machine oil/ozone odors in the hangar, Kira coughed at the bitter organic aroma.

"C'mon Kid, your shoulders have been stiff for the last five minutes. Don't make me force you to talk."

Not an idle threat, but one the older man would (hopefully) hesitate before carrying out. Pushing his luck over something so insignificant would be pure folly, however, so Kira cleared his throat again and warily raised his head.

By now, his eyes were fully attuned to the light and he could see the other man clearly. Andrew Waltfeld was sitting behind a metal desk, smiling genially at Kira over the cup of coffee in his hands. His eyes were dark and calculating but not unfriendly or angry and there was a fresh red scar stretching across his left eye. It was the Desert Tiger in the flesh, out of his element but as intimidating as ever.

"C-commander Waltfeld…I thought you were dead..."

"Nope. Still kicking." Purposefully nonchalant, he leaned back in his chair and put his feet up on the desk. "Aren't you going to ask what I'm doing here?"

"I'm…uh… more interested in what I'm doing here…?" Kira tugged at his restraints, more nervous than upset. If anyone had a reason to hate him, it was this man. He had shown kindness to Kira and Cagalli, and then lost his companion (Girlfriend? Wife?) to the blade of the Strike during battle.

Waltfeld chuckled and took a long sip of coffee, noticeably NOT hostile.

"That IS a very good question. A better one is: what are you, an Earthen Alliance solder and the pilot of the GAT-X105 STRIKE, doing in Orb, apparently without your Gundam OR the Legged ship?"

Kira blanched. He hadn't even thought of that. The Archangel was supposed to be on its way to Alaska – if ZAFT found out that Orb was assisting EA soldiers, the neutral nation would be attacked!

"I'm- I'm from Orb, originally, you know. I came to-to see my parents…" his stuttered excuse made the Commander raise an eyebrow and quirk his mouth in disbelief.

"Really. Your parents." Kira nodded, licking his lips nervously. "And I suppose you just happened to come across a photo of the La Creuset team's missing Blitz pilot in the process, hm?"

At that, Kira's eyes widened and when the ZAFT soldier slid the damning photo across the desk so he could see it clearly, he looked away. He already knew what it was, and now he knew who to blame for his current circumstances.

"Athrun gave that to you." He mumbled, staring straight ahead with glassy, unseeing eyes. He'd been so sure that sharing the photo would return their friendship, that it was an opportunity to rediscover what had been lost. Instead, Athrun had responded with betrayal.

"Actually, no."

"What? But-"

"Your little mechanical pet delivered this photo to the whole team." Kira closed his eyes with a quiet groan of realization and Waltfeld shot him a sympathetic but amused smirk. "It was Yzak who brought you to me."

"I don't remember being captured."

He chuckled. "That massive bump on your head probably has something to do with that. Yzak was…enthusiastic while apprehending you."

Kira winced as the pain in his head hammered as if on cue.

"I received this," Waltfeld tapped the picture of Nicol. "From Mr. Zala after he returned a good ten minutes behind his subordinates." He shook his head with a wry laugh. "Those boys are a dysfunctional bunch."

"So…he didn't bring me in…"

"Who, Athrun? Nah. In fact, he seemed to be arguing for leniency because you willingly gave him information on Nicol Amarfi, the apparently-not-deceased ZAFT pilot."

"Oh." A bubble of happy warmth formed in Kira's chest at the description of Athrun attempting to protect him. Maybe he'd been right after all.

"SO." In a single quick movement, the older man stood up, knocked back the last swallow of his coffee, and set the cup down with a purposeful 'clunk'. Then he turned to Kira. Standing, he was highly intimidating to his captive's seated, restrained, still injured form.

"What do you say, Kid? Feeling up to answering some questions?"

"I…not really, Mr. Waltfeld." He couldn't hold back a wince when the other man advanced, prompting Kira to crane his neck and jostle his head injury.

"Heh. I'll bet. Lucky for you, I have some other duties to attend to, so we can put this off a few hours."

Kira breathed a sigh of relief…then squeaked in surprise as Waltfeld leaned over him and worked the ropes off. His hands were calloused and battle scarred but gentle and he removed the restraints without hurting Kira. Then he turned to leave.

"There's a cot in the far wall you can rest on, if you feel faint. I'll be back in a couple hours. You'd better be feeling up to it by then."

"Y-yes sir."

Before the door could close, Kira called out.

"Commander Waltfeld!"

"Yeah?" He stopped in the doorway, staring back.

"Why don't you hate me? I mean, after what I did…Even Athrun hated me when he thought I killed Nicol."

The humor drained from the soldier's face and for a moment he stared at his captive with eyes as empty and desolate as space. "Excusing your connection to Zala for the moment…And we _will_ discuss that later…This is war. We've all lost people and, until it's over, we'll continue to lose people. I'm sure you've made sacrifices as well."

A vision of the civilian life raft bursting into flames because Kira had been unable to protect it flashed before his eyes. He bowed his head, refusing to meet the older man's gaze.

"Yeah" Andrew sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Rest, Kid. You'll need your wits about you when I get back."

He turned the lights off as he left and Kira heard the beep of an electronic lock. For a long time he sat there, alone in the dark, trapped in a tiny room at the mercy of a friendly man who could only be his enemy.

* * *

_What a mess._ Andy shook his head, false smile falling from his face as soon as the boy was safely locked away. This was going to complicate things badly. He didn't expect Strike's pilot to make trouble, not if he wasn't given reason to, but as soon as his absence was noticed the EA would know there was a ZAFT presence in the area. It would also draw the attention of Chairman Patrick Zala and the Council, who would no doubt turn Orb into a political talking point and push to declare open war on the neutral nation. The Eternal's undercover mission searching for the Strike and gathering information would become irrelevant and they'd be reassigned, which would complicate Waltfeld's personal plans for the immediate future.

Technically, capturing the boy could further ZAFT's plans; without Strike's pilot, the Naturals would be unable to use the Gundam and the Legged ship was helpless but for winged aircraft and mounted guns. To fulfill his mission parameters, all Andy had to do was keep the boy contained and wait until the ship tried to continue on its journey and passed out of Orb's protection, then chase it down and capture it and the Gundam it carried.

However, he had no _official_ way of knowing the boy Yzak captured was the Strike pilot, seeing as their only previous face-to-face encounter had been strictly off the record. He was loathe to report it now – allowing such a dangerous enemy to leave his base unhindered was grounds for court martial at the very least, possibly execution. Besides, his personal plans diverged from those of the Chairman and capturing the Strike at this point would not benefit him at all. Maybe in a few days…

But, for now, it would be best to play it close to the vest and keep the information, from their talk in the desert and the upcoming interrogation, to himself.

The only potential positive in the situation was that Athrun Zala seemed just as eager to keep this away from the Chairman as Waltfeld. It was a surprising, but welcome, parallel to his sentiments and (hopefully) one less stumbling block in the way of ending this damn war.

It was certainly a lot to think about.

As he came closer to his destination, already sipping a new cup of coffee, Andy put such thoughts out of his mind. He had something much more immediate to deal with, which he could hear all the way from the other side of the bridge.

"What are you saying?! _You think we should let him __go_?!"

The Commander's sigh was bordering on a groan. If he'd thought Yzak was a handful on his own…

"You had no right to grab him in the first place!"

…Being put in the same room as Athrun was like adding oil to water. They just did not mix.

The volume of their fight increased as he reached the briefing room. He didn't bother pausing to listen- it was already obvious what they were arguing about. Instead, he pushed the door open and strolled casually into their midst.

Immediately, the argument ground to a halt. Yzak, bending over the table aggressively with both hands clenched and ready to attack, reluctantly straightened. Athrun, glowering with hard eyes and a near-snarl on his face on the other side of the table, looked more in control at first glance but his feet were braced and muscles tensed and ready for violence. At Andy's entrance, the snarl vanished behind a blank poker face (which did nothing to hide the fire in his eyes). Dearka was present as well, sitting two seats away from Yzak and watching the conflict with an expression somewhere between confusion and worry. His normally confident posture was conspicuously absent in the presence of such a charged atmosphere. (Yzak and Athrun were often at odds, but they'd never fought this badly before.)

"So." Their commanding officer sat casually in the chair at the head of the table, sipping his coffee with relish. "Someone want to tell me what this is all about?"

"That _Natural-" _Yzak spat the word like a curse. He had prejudice issues, Andy absently noted. "-has Nicol! And _he_, "-the snarl was aimed at Athrun, whose own expression wavered in anger. "-wants to let him go! An _EA soldier_!"

"We have no proof that he's a soldier." Athrun cut in, before his superior officer could respond. "All we know is that he had a link to Nicol. Which YOU destroyed!"

"I took the only opportunity I had! Now we can interrogate the Natural and get more information!"

"Enough." Both of them fell silent at Waltfeld's serious tone. "Sit down."

Reluctantly, they settled in chairs on opposite sides of the table, still glaring and tense.

"Dearka, anything to add?"

The blond teen jerked to attention, startled at being addressed.

"No sir. Athrun disagrees with Yzak's decision to capture the Natural and Yzak disagrees with Athrun's… disagreement."

"Hm." Another sip of coffee. "I was under the impression Athrun was in charge of your little group. Yzak acted against orders?"

When both teens in question opened their mouths to protest, he silenced them with a flat stare and nodded to Dearka.

"Er…Athrun was kinda…in shock after finding out about Nicol and Yzak had to act immediately to keep the robot bird in sight."

"I see." He set the cup down and contemplated it for a moment, then sat back in his chair with a sigh.

"Both of you are wrong."

A raised hand cut off their protests.

"Athrun, you have to keep your wits about you, regardless of the situation. Yzak was correct to follow the robot back to its source, to verify the information." Yzak's triumphant, gloating expression vanished when Waltfeld turned to him.

"Yzak, while following the bird was a good idea, capturing the boy was not. By all appearances, he was willing to pass us information at least about EA captives, maybe more in time. Any goodwill we might have had with him, any option to have a spy in their ranks, was destroyed when you attacked him."

"But…he's an EA soldier!" Yzak exclaimed, sounding offended by the very _idea_.

"Hm. Are you sure? It seems to me that a real EA soldier would never be willing to pass anything to a coordinator. It's possible the boy is a civilian of Orb, who happened to get his hands on sensitive information.

The silver haired teen had no rejoinder for that.

Andy took another swallow of coffee. "Ideally, Yzak would have followed the bird and reported the boy's description and position, allowing for possible further contact and hopefully information on the EA."

Yzak scowled and flopped back in his seat, refusing to look at any one. The green-eyed boy across from him leaned forward urgently.

"But…what now? Maybe he'll listen to reason if we -."

"We're not letting the bastard GO!" Yzak's offended yell echoed in the room, but when Waltfeld raised an eyebrow, he sank back down, trembling with rage. Andrew's next statement was directed to the table's occupants in general.

"Yzak's right this time. It isn't the ideal situation, but what's done is done. The boy is here and we cannot trust he won't go to the EA if we let him go. Currently, he is locked in a spare cabin to recover from Yzak's assault. Once he is physically capable, I will question him."

With interest, the Commander noted concern in Athrun's expression.

"Is…was he hurt badly?"

"He'll recover."

"I respectfully request to be present when you interrogate him, sir."

"If Athrun's there, I get to be there too!" Yzak. Again.

"Oh hell, why not?" And Dearka. Three for three.

"Request denied, Zala. To _all _of you. I will be questioning him alone." None of them looked pleased to hear it, but at least they weren't on the verge of physical confrontation anymore.

"Now," he stood up with a stretch. "I want each of you to write and submit an objective report on this incident and return it in the next two hours." The boys stood up, grumbling and protesting quietly. Andy shook his head in amusement. Teenagers would be teenagers, regardless if they were also soldiers.

"Dismissed."

* * *

_At the Archangel:_

"Geez, Kira, where are you?" Tolle kept his eyes on the ladder he was descending, refusing to look at the long drop right beneath his feet. He had no idea how Kira could spring about so effortlessly, heedless of the height.

The group of them: Tolle, Miri, Kuzzey, Sai, and (surprisingly reluctantly) Flay were looking for Kira. It felt like weeks since they'd really spoken with him as friends rather than co-workers, and Tolle was beginning to feel bad about leaving him on his own for so long (even if he claimed to want it). Flay and Sai were searching the mostly deserted residential decks, Kuzzey was investigating the more populated areas, Tolle was looking in the hangar and technical areas, and Miri was searching outside.

So far, the only thing Tolle had discovered was that investigating the hangar included a lot more climbing than he'd expected.

"Tolle! Tolle!" Thankfully, he was almost to the floor when he heard Miri's frantic cries. He rushed down the last few rungs and ran in the direction of his girlfriend's voice.

"Miri! Miri, what's wrong?"

They came together in a rush, but she pulled up short before banging into him and then thrust her cupped hands in his direction, drawing his attention to their contents.

"Oh Tolle…something horrible must have happened to Kira!"

In her hands rested the inanimate, broken form of Kira's mechanical bird, Tori. One wing had been half snapped (stepped on?) and its head was bent at a funny angle. Most chilling was its total lack of movement or reaction. Normally, it was amazingly lifelike and active, so much so that, for a second, Tolle didn't recognize the green and yellow metal toy.

He poked it with a tentative finger, but there was no reaction – it remained, for all intents and purposes, dead.

Normal good humor completely absent, Tolle met Miri's worried gaze with a matching expression of fear.

"We need to tell the captain."

* * *

TBC

Reviews are loved!

* * *

**Post-Chapter Author's Notes:**

The hardest thing about this chapter was remembering how to write Andy Waltfeld. I had to do a bit of research to figure out the minutia of his character and, in the process, discovered a few salient points I had entirely forgotten. Most importantly: coffee! I had completely forgotten about Andy's obsession with it. This discovery turned out to be a very good thing, because it inspired the opening sentence (always the hardest part). [the blurb from Athrun's POV came later.]

* * *

Thank you to my reviewers: **Obsessive Child, 107602, Miss Peeps, Logius Scriba, MysticMaiden 18, RainPure, Guest, Lightcatdream, Ishlee, misteriosayuri, haganeochibi, Love Psycho, , Yananikki, ChaoticNightofFlames, Stormywolf12, jdawgjpn, 0aka,** and **PinkSugarDust**

You guys are awesome!

(If you want me to respond to your review, but don't have an ffnet account, you'll need to find a creative way to enter your email address, otherwise the system cuts out the email and I have no way to contact you.)


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